Tucson Unified School district is facing staffing struggles due to COVID-19. As of Monday, 354 teachers were out, though Tucson Unified Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo says that’s better than the week before. 

Trujillo says the point that would require closures for schools for student safety would be between 40% and 50% staff being out, but they haven’t reached that number yet. 

“Every school in the district right now today, except for Pistor Middle School. One out of 87 has their classrooms covered with subs, external or internal, or the regularly scheduled teachers are back at work," Trujillo said. 

While he says the authority to close schools is left up to the Pima County Health Department, the district can close schools for emergency reasons that compromise the health of students.