Richland schools to stay online this fall on Tri-Cities health officials’ recommendation

Richland students will be learning from home this fall.

The board voted 4-to-1 Tuesday night to start online completely this fall out of concerns about the coronavirus.

“There is no good decision,” board President Rick Jansons said. “There is no decision that is going to satisfy everyone. There are parents that are hurting right now because we are part of their care services.”

The only dissenting vote came from board member Kari Williams, the only former teacher on the board, who wanted to offer choices to parents and teachers who felt safe to return to class.

Tri-Cities school districts have been developing options for how students will restart classes. After a long discussion Tuesday afternoon and evening, Pasco school leaders delayed a decision until Aug. 11.

Kennewick school officials are scheduled to meet Wednesday.

Richland school officials made it official Tuesday after Health Officer Amy Person with the Benton-Franklin Health District recommended schools stay closed this fall, according to a letter read during the Richland meeting Tuesday night.

“The Benton Franklin Health District understands the important roles the schools play in providing quality education, social emotional learning, addressing special needs and providing assistance meeting basic needs.,” Person said in the letter to all of the school districts. “However, we also believe that protecting the health of our students and schools staff should be a priority.

“At this time, I do not recommend schools reopen on Sept. 1, 2020 for in-person instruction, except for consideration for small groups, smaller than five, to support educationally at-risk students (with special needs.)”

The board received the letter about a half hour before the meeting, Jansons said.

And it came after a meeting with state Superintendent Chris Reykdal on Tuesday where he suggested districts follow the suggestions of their local health districts, said Jansons and Superintendent Shelley Redinger.

Districts in Western Washington already have decided to restart classes online.

In Oregon, education leaders discussed not opening up schools until case counts were below 10 per 100,000 people during a two-week period.

Benton County is at 369 cases per 100,000 and Franklin County is at 627 per 100,000.

“What we’re hearing from OSPI is we need to listen to our local regional health agency,” Redinger said. “It probably would be in our best interest to listen to that.”

Jansons expects the state to put metrics in place before schools can open.

“I think we’re going to revisit this every board meeting,” Jansons said.

Safety concerns

The announcement comes as school districts across the Tri-Cities are putting together plans required by the state. That plan must answer what school will look like if classes need to continue online and what will happen when school opens.

Those plans must answer how the schools will meet requirements laid out by the state, which are aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

For the schools, one of the biggest hurdles is fitting students into classrooms while having them spaced 6 feet apart.

The districts will need to track attendance, meet for 180 days and have an average of 1,027 hours of classroom time for the year. All of the requirements were waived last year.

District leaders have reached out to parents with surveys and town hall meetings.

The planning process had been met with concern by most teachers from Richland, Kennewick and Pasco, who don’t believe it’s safe to head back to class.

Richland and Kennewick teacher surveys have found that a majority of teachers don’t believe it’s safe to return until phase 3.

Pasco schools

Pasco leaders unveiled a plan that incorporates both continuing distance learning and what would happen if schools opened with the 6-foot restriction. Superintendent Michelle Whitney said they are working with health officials and state leaders on when they would return to class.

“Our goal is to return to face-to-face instruction,” she said. “We have to lean on our public health partners. There are a number of meetings that have happened this week.”

The district worked with parents on what issues they had with the distance learning during the spring. The main complaints focused on a lack of consistency in how the material was being delivered and difficulty helping their students learn.

They plan on adding virtual office hours, dedicating a day for teachers to plan lessons, and providing as close of a schedule to normal as possible.

The preliminary plan divides elementary student classes into small groups. Each group would meet for one 30-minute core class and an hour of special classes four days a week.

Middle and high schools are looking at four days a week, and they would be released early for office hours at the end of the day.

Richland schools

Richland found similar complaints about their online learning program as they worked on a revision for their continuous learning program.

They also are working on using consistent computer programs within each school.

School officials also discussed having students attend classes between Tuesday and Friday with middle and high school students going to class in the morning and elementary students in the afternoon.

“We have a plan to be fully online if we have to be fully online in the fall,” said Deputy Superintendent Mike Hansen.

They are also starting a virtual school which will be an option for students. The program requires a yearlong commitment.

“Traditional school, that we will most likely start online in the fall, will transition as options/phases change,” according to an online document. “Both options will have similar structures and training elements, but each are a separate entity.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 9:58 PM.