No decision this week on when Richland middle and high schools will reopen

Richland school leaders are putting off their discussion of when to reopen middle and high schools for in-person classes.

The special meeting set for Monday, Nov. 16, was canceled, and a presentation is planned for a Nov. 24 regular board meeting.

A four-hour meeting last week ended with no decision on whether the middle and high school students should return to classrooms in December or wait until the end of the semester in January.

Richland elementary students already are attending classes in person part of the week.

Much of the debate centered on concerns that local and state health officials have given differing recommendations for reopening based on the level of positive COVID-19 cases in the community.

The board members asked Richland administrators to come back with suggestions on metrics they should use for bringing back the remaining students.

Middle and high schools students in Kennewick and Pasco also have not returned to in-person classes.

This week marks the first time that all Tri-Cities elementary students are able to be back in classrooms at least two mornings a week. Pasco’s third through fifth graders returned to schools starting this week.

Positive COVID tests

It comes at the same time that COVID cases are surging in the Tri-Cities and the three schools districts reported more students and teachers with the virus.

Altogether, the school districts reported 21 new positive cases since Friday. Many of the students were in class last week.

Kennewick schools accounted for nearly half of those cases, including six staff members at Canyon View Elementary, Highlands Middle School and Legacy High School, Desert Hills Middle School and the Mid-Columbia Partnership.

Students who tested positive attend Keewaydin Discovery Center, Cascade Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary and the Mid-Columbia Partnership.

Nine students from Canyon View Elementary are in quarantine after coming in close contact with a staff member who was sick on Nov. 12.

Kennewick has had 78 total cases since the start of the school year, 42 of them in the last two weeks.

Pasco schools received reports of seven new cases, six of them were staff members, including ones from Robinson, Mark Twain and Columbia River elementary schools, McLoughlin Middle School and Chiawana High School. There was one student at Whittier Elementary School who was diagnosed positive.

Pasco has had 64 total cases, 28 of them in the past two weeks.

Richland had four new cases reported since last week. Two students were at Jefferson Elementary and employees were from Badger Mountain and Tapteal elementary schools.

Richland has had 25 cases since Oct. 19.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 4:48 PM.