Parents, students and community members in the Ridgefield School District met outside of the Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center (RACC) on Tuesday, Dec. 8, to advocate for opening schools prior to a school board meeting.
Local school districts are looking at the potential for bringing students back into the classroom following changes in statewide guidelines announced earlier this month.
On Dec. 16 Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal announced new guidance which changed the state’s recommendations for school districts on when to restart in-person learning. Though still a phased approach, the new guidance raises the case rate threshold for recent activity of COVID-19, based on research that shows transmission, especially among younger students, was lower as long as health and safety requirements from the state are followed.
Following the announcement, several local district superintendents issued letters to families addressing their plans for incorporating the new guidance.
According to Battle Ground Public Schools’ hybrid learning webpage, the district was working through the recommendations, and would have more information on their plans following the district’s winter break. In his letter BGPS Superintendent Mark Ross noted that the district had been providing in-person learning to cohorts of kindergarteners since Nov. 2.
Ross noted there had been a few positive COVID-19 tests that forced some classes to revert to remote learning, but those cases were not due to in-school exposure.
“As we work through the new recommendations and plan for their implementation, we ask for your patience,” Ross wrote in the letter. He put a call out for potential substitutes in the district, noting that due to the need to have staff quarantined when they get sick or are exposed, staffing levels are hit when potential cases are identified. Those positions ranged from cafeteria and recess supervisors to classroom teachers.
Ridgefield School District Superintendent Nathan McCann wrote that the administration of the first vaccines and the state guidance announcements filled him “with renewed hope and optimism for 2021.” He noted that Ridgefield kindergarten students are set to return to classrooms Jan. 5, and provided a timeframe of other elementary grades’ re-entry into buildings: first grade on Jan. 19, second grade on Jan. 25, third grade on Feb. 1, and fourth grade Feb. 8. Fourth grade’s return was pending limited transmission at school sites, McCann wrote.
McCann’s letter noted that Ridgefield Remote learning would still be a choice for district families, also requesting that parents of first- through -fourth-grade students complete a “Learning Model Registration.”
Hockinson Superintendent Steve Marshall wrote that his district’s plan was to phase in first and second grade in early February, with older grades up to fifth grade likely to follow. Like Battle Ground, he wrote that Hockinson would be providing more information after Winter Break.
“Expanding in-person services for students is an exciting prospect, but the successful reopening of our schools will require everyone’s continued adherence to public safety protocols, including frequent hand washing, social distancing, and wearing a mask when you leave the house,” Marshall wrote, thanking staff and families for six months of working with remote learning.
Woodland Public Schools appears to be moving faster than nearby districts to its south, as superintendent Michael Green announced the day after the new guidelines that the district would be returning elementary students to in-person learning on a hybrid schedule starting Jan. 5. The district had previously returned elementary students to buildings, though rolled back the grades for in-person instruction to just kindergarten and first grade late last month following a surge in case rates.
“Research studies demonstrate that the transmission of the virus remains incredibly low with young children,” Green wrote. He explained scientific data showed middle and high school-aged youth transmitted COVID-19 at rates greater than elementary-aged ones, leading to a need for local case rates to drop before they could return to buildings. He expressed optimism that those students could begin phasing into hybrid learning “as soon as the start of the second semester in 2021.”
Green Mountain School will also see students return to classrooms after Winter Break should its board of directors approve a recommendation from superintendent Tyson Vogeler.
In an email to The Reflector Vogeler laid out his approach, which would have kindergarten through third grade return for half-day school starting Jan. 11, one cohort in the morning and another in the afternoon. The district had also rolled back its in-person learning in November, which Vogeler said was due to “exponential growth” of virus activity earlier that month.
“(T)he surge was not as significant as had been anticipated,” Vogeler wrote, noting a potential plateau of case rates in Clark County in recent weeks. He added that alongside the Jan. 11 return of younger students, the school board would also consider bringing students in higher grades back for in-person learning in groups of five or fewer students at their Dec. 29 meeting.
