3-hour Richland school meeting ends in sharp divide over reopening
Richland’s 13,000 students will need to wait longer to find out when they can return to the classroom.
A three-hour school meeting Thursday night ended in a split board that couldn’t decide on when or if to send students back into classrooms this fall.
School officials reviewed a 24-page draft plan with details about schedules, procedures for checking students and staff for COVID-19 symptoms and plans for what happens if there is an outbreak. No public comments were taken at the special session.
The district had tentatively planned to bring students back as early as the middle of October.
Plans to that end were based on the recommendation of the health officer for the Benton-Franklin Health District who said in mid-September that coronavirus infection rates were dropping enough in Benton County that schools could likely open as early as Oct. 1.
This week Dr. Amy Person stuck by that recommendation during a Kennewick School Board meeting where school officials were struggling with the same decision.
COVID cases are plateauing in Benton County rather than falling, complicating the discussions.
Dr. Person said she believes the risks associated with not being in school are currently outweighing the risks of having students in classes, especially if the districts follow proper safety procedures.
Board President Rick Jansons was concerned the local health district is saying it’s safe, while state figures say it isn’t. He noted that Clark County, which has a better handle on the virus, has not opened schools.
He was frustrated that Dr. Person was not changing her position in light of the most recent infection numbers.
“Maybe it’s because I’m a vet and I’m used to the military chain of command, but I’m getting conflicting orders,” he said at Thursday’s meeting. “I have a local person telling me one thing. I have the state, in writing, telling me something else. .... I’m kind of sick of the wishy-washiness. The Sept. 14 letter was pretty clear and now the goal posts have moved. That’s just BS. That’s not a way to plan.”
Board member Heather Cleary wanted to see the rate of new cases drop before she felt comfortable sending students back to in-person learning.
But Board Member Jill Oldson wanted the district to move sooner rather than later to bring at least the youngest students back. She was concerned that elementary kids were falling further behind the longer they wait.
“I want to make a decision on K-5 within the next week,” she said. “I am very confident, at least within my knowledge and the research that I have done, I am very comfortable getting our K-5 kids back in the classroom. I am very hesitant, based on what Dr. Person said, about the older kids. ... I don’t want to kick this can down the road.”
Board member Kari Williams pushed the board to pick a date to start school. Dr. Person’s presentation to the Kennewick board convinced her that it was safe for kids to return.
“I would like to move forward with K-5 now,” she said.
While there aren’t any answers for when students would return, board members appeared to favor having half of the elementary students come in the morning and half in afternoon.
“We heard from parents that they didn’t like their kids coming some days and not coming others,” said Brian Moore, the assistant superintendent for elementary schools. “It provides consistency. It gives them the same schedule for five days.”
Middle and high school students would split their schedules with “hybrid”learning by half coming in person two days and and then attending online the rest of the week.
Assistant Superintendent Todd Baddley said the elementary schedule won’t work for the middle and high schools.
“That was the reason we didn’t explore it this summer,” he said. “They’re still going to be in front of their teacher every other day.”
The board’s next regular meeting is Oct. 13. It’s unclear if another special meeting on the issue will be called before then.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 11:52 AM.