Battle Ground Public Schools staff distribute Chromebooks to students at Prairie High School last April.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Superintendent Chris Reykdal and the state Department of Health (DOH) last week announced a “Decision Tree” framework to help local school districts determine how to resume learning this school year. The framework emphasizes the fact that community transmission must be low in order for schools to reopen safely for in-person learning.
Clark County Public Health reports that there were just over 74 newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 people over 14 days, indicating that Clark County is on the high end of the moderate category of COVID-19 activity. At this level, the DOH recommends a remote learning start to the school year with gradual expansion to in-person learning as well as prioritizing in-person learning in small groups of students with high needs and elementary students.
Last week, eight Clark County school districts recommended to their schools boards that they start the fall in a remote learning model. Battle Ground, Hockinson, La Center and Ridgefield were four of the eight districts.
“Schools are not island, meaning virus transmission in a school will spread into the community, just as the transmission within the broader community will make its way into schools,” Clark County Public Health Director and County Public Health Officer Alan Melnick said in a news release. “Clark County school leaders made the appropriate recommendation to start schools remotely and this recommendation is supported by the state’s new metrics, as well as Clark County Public Health.”
The Department of Health “Decision Tree” framework uses metrics based on three different COVID-19 activity levels. It is considered a high COVID-19 activity level if there are more than 75 cases per 100,000 in 14 days, medium if there are 25 to 75 cases per 100,000 in 14 days and low if there are less than 25.
School district leaders plan to continue collaborating with their local health jurisdictions regarding the number of cases in their communities and when it is safe to gradually expand to in-person education, as is recommended for areas at the moderate COVID-19 activity level.
“Our ultimate goal is to get students back in the classroom, but we must do so safely, using the best available health and science data and expert guidance,” said Vancouver Public Schools Superintendent Steve Webb. “Until that time, we will engage students in a thoughtful, robust and accountable remote learning model.”
Parents of local children reached out to The Reflector to express their opinions on how local school districts should handle remote learning this fall. One parent with a sixth-grader and 10th grader said they hoped online learning should be “kept simple” and focus on core curriculum only. “My thoughts would be they should focus on one core area each day and then use Fridays as tutoring or one-on-one appointments,” the reader wrote.
Another parent of a local freshman, Jen McDonnell, said she hoped the teachers have online face-to-face time with students. She also mentioned that she hoped teachers (and districts) would hold students accountable by taking attendance and taking action with struggling students. “Making it optional for teachers and students like last year is not productive,” she wrote.
McDonnell also said she hopes teachers assign group projects that require students to interact with each other over face-to-face online meetings or socially distant small groups and that the school day remains normal hours.
Last of all, McDonnell expressed hope to return to in-person instruction soon. “School isn’t just about learning from books or videos. It is also about learning to interact and build relationships with peers, older and younger kids, kids from different backgrounds, role models, adults, and those with authority. It’s about recognition, building self-efficacy and esteem of the children,” she wrote. “It is hard to do that, especially for young people, behind a screen, in my humble opinion.”
