‘We felt crushed.’ Hundreds protest 3-month delay in opening more Kennewick schools

Hundreds of Kennewick parents and students braved the cold Friday morning to call for sending their kids back to school.

Many waved signs saying to “Open Schools Now” as they stood in the school administration parking lot.

Woodley Downard, a Kamiakin high school senior, was one of several dozen frustrated high school students protesting the school board decision to delay the opening of middle and high schools until Feb. 2.

Kennewick elementary students already are attending partly in-person.

“They really didn’t make a plan for how school was going to open. They just threw a date out there just hoping that they would have a plan,” said Downard.

Kennewick school board members Dawn Adams, Diane Sundvik and Ron Mabry decided on the delay in a 3-2 vote Wednesday night. The district initially planned to return secondary students to classes on Nov. 2.

Downard and his fellow Kamiakin students Nathan Fisler and Gavin Mathews said the decision didn’t take into account the costs to students who are struggling with not being able to see their teachers, friends or participate in activities such as sports.

“The seniors especially, they’re missing out on an important year,” Downard said. “It took years and years to get to this point and now we’re not going to get the opportunity to have a full senior year like we wanted to.”

Keeley Wagner, the parent of a fifth- and eighth-grader, said the decision was devastating for her middle school student.

“It was a crushing blow to everybody,” she said. “I got on Facebook. I think a lot of us did because we were so fired up. We felt mad. We felt crushed. Because I feel like we had that carrot dangled in front of our faces for so many months.”

She believed that if the community came together and started working together they could get the school board members to change their minds.

“Our teachers are worth it. Our students are worth it, and our kids are not OK,” she said.

In-person learning

One of the constant refrains throughout the impromptu protest was that in-person learning is better than trying to learn online for many of the children. Mathews says he’s needs to be in the classroom to see it himself and others shared stories of honors students who were now failing classes.

“I care about the truth and the truth is that in-person learning is vastly superior to remote and asynchronous learning,” said Kyle Duncan, one of the parents speaking at the event. “Nobody in that building would argue that.”

Hannah Kennell, a high school freshman, said she thought the schools would be open fully by second semester and felt disappointed to see them shut.

“I’m one of the very few teenagers who has a parent at home that can help me with school,” she said. “I’m a very organized honor student and I couldn’t get all of my assignments in because it was either too much work or I didn’t understand the context (this spring.)”

Her friends tell her the situation has become worse as distance learning started this fall.

Kennell, Duncan and others pointed out that Dr. Amy Person, health officer for the Benton Franklin Health District, recommended returning to classes as long as students wear masks, maintain their distance and wash their hands often.

Superintendent Traci Pierce has said the recommendation did extend to middle and high schools even if they couldn’t maintain classes in small groups.

The protesters were frustrated that the three board members didn’t listen to that advice.

“Myself and others have been holding onto Nov. 2 as the light at the end of this tunnel, and KSD has left us in the dark” said high school student Zachary Glenn. “We need that light back. Everybody here wants that light back.”

COVID cases

The Kennewick School District, which has 2,450 teachers and 18,000 students, reported 15 employees and 3 students have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since the end of August.

Ten of the cases were at the middle and high school levels.

COVID-19 data reported includes enrolled students and staff who are physically present in a building or on school grounds in any capacity, including in-person learning, hybrid learning, etc., said the district website.

The third case of an ill student was reported Friday at Lincoln Elementary School.

Kennewick is the only district to publicly list how many staff members have gotten ill and where they work. Officials say they follow thorough cleaning protocols after someone tests positive.

Pasco and Richland school districts have not decided when most of their students will return to in-person learning.

This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 12:58 PM.