Debate ends in Kennewick vote to return all kids to schools Oct. 12
Kennewick students will be back in classrooms by Oct. 12.
The school board decided 4-1 on a plan to reopen for some in-person classes after much discussion.
And classes could start as early as Oct. 1 for kindergartners through second-grades and some special education students.
The students will be returning in a hybrid model, where they spend two days in class and three days learning online.
Kennewick is the first Tri-City school district to set a timeline for students returning. Richland and Pasco school boards are discussing their plans on Tuesday, Sept. 22.
On Monday, the Benton Franklin Heath District recommended that Benton County schools could start bringing students back on a part-time basis starting on Oct. 1 because COVID-19 infections are continuing to drop.
The health district recommended that Pasco and other Franklin County schools delay until at least Oct. 15.
In Kennewick, board member Heather Kintzley recommended they also delay reopening for the majority of students until Oct. 12 as a way to give administrators more time to prepare.
Board members Ron Mabry and Mike Connors supported bringing students back.
“At some point, we have to say, we’re going to let some model go into place like we said we were going to do in September to get the kids back in school,” Mabry said.
He said the district can’t plan for every contingency, and can’t expect kids or teachers to be completely safe from COVID-19 until there is a vaccine.
Connors was more enthusiastic about getting students back in class. He said his children wanted to be in school and he wanted them there.
“There are a thousand reasons we shouldn’t send our kids back to school, but I have three reasons in my house and they all need to go back to school,” he said. “They’re asking, begging, to go back.”
Diane Sundvik, the lone dissenting vote, continued to have concerns that the present downward trend of COVID-19 won’t hold.
“Our schools are not stores,” she said. “When people go to the store, they go for half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe. Our kids will be in school for five or six hours a day. Can we expect small children or big children, or anybody, to wear a mask for that long?”
She also was concerned about the large number of teachers who are older or in other at-risk categories for the disease.
Board member Dawn Adams said the district needs to be clear about the reasons for returning to school, and what they are going to do if people get sick.
Already, six Kennewick teachers have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 24, said Kennewick Superintendent Traci Pierce. None of them had close contact with anyone else in the school, she said, and their rooms and anything they touched have been disinfected.
The district also created a procedure for what would happen if someone appears to have symptoms or is confirmed to have the disease. That includes isolating the person, and disinfecting.
Staff, visitors and students need to report whether they have symptoms before coming into the building.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 12:58 PM.