When can Tri-Cities middle and high schools reopen classrooms? Meetings this week

Richland’s fourth- and fifth-grade students are returning to classrooms on Monday, as thousands of other Tri-City students wait for a solid return date.

While Richland and Kennewick middle and high schools have scheduled opening dates, it remains unclear whether they will stick with them.

At the same time Pasco’s teachers union continues to call for a return to distance learning, and at-risk teachers and other school employees wait for vaccines to become available.

Parents and educators remain divided on if schools should be open for in-person classes. COVID-19 rates in the two counties remain higher than the state recommendations for returning older students.

Richland’s fourth and fifth graders have been out of class since November when a looming shortage of substitute teachers led them to move teaching those grades back online.

District leaders now say they are comfortable that they have enough substitutes to handle absences caused by COVID-19 illnesses and quarantines.

Richland tentatively set Jan. 26 as the first day back for middle and high school students, and Kennewick hoped to start on Feb. 2, but it’s still unclear whether students will be returning on those dates or if those return dates will be pushed back again.

Pasco has not set a new date for opening its middle and high schools.

Richland and Pasco school boards meet Tuesday starting at 6:30 p.m. and Kennewick’s meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Case rates in Benton and Franklin counties have slipped from their highs at the end of December. For the two weeks ending on Jan. 1, the health district reported that Benton County had 520 cases per 100,000 people and Franklin County had 706 cases per 100,000.

State officials recommend waiting until that number drops below 350 cases per 100,000 over a two-week period before bringing back more students than elementary students.

Kennewick and Pasco schools continue to see teachers and students testing positive for the virus.

Pasco reported 20 staff members and five students sickened with COVID during the first week of the year. Most of them were not at schools when while they were infectious.

People who were close contacts were notified, but no classrooms were closed and no one was asked to quarantine.

Kennewick reported 11 positive cases in last two weeks and 204 since Sept. 1.

Richland has not reported any new cases among staff or students since Dec. 21.

Vaccinations

Washington Department of Health officials plan to get vaccines to high-risk critical school workers in February.

That includes K-12 teachers and staff who are 50 and older. The remaining teachers can expect to get vaccines by April.

Kennewick officials said they started compiling a list of qualifying people and working with a health care providers to get them vaccinated.

School nurses, the secretaries and paraeducators who work in health and isolation rooms along with others are among the first wave of school employees to qualify for the limited supply of vaccine.

A small number of Pasco staff, including school nurses, health room staff and teachers, received the COVID-19 vaccine last week from Lourdes Health.

“Pasco School District employees have a variety of options to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and we are working with our community health care partners to notify us when those opportunities become available,” district officials said.

“The district will be maintaining a voluntary list of staff members who wish to receive the COVID-19 vaccine so that we can provide their names to health care providers when there is more vaccine available,” they said.