State superintendent recommends schools reopen in the fall

OLYMPIA — The state schools superintendent is recommending that schools across the state open this fall.

“Our top priority for the fall is to allow for schools to open across the state,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal at a press conference Thursday morning. “We’re opening this fall, provided it is safe.”

Gov. Jay Inslee ordered all public and private schools across the state closed on March 17 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reykdal said school districts will be expected to plan for a full, 180-day school year for 2020-21 and will also need to develop plans that allow for social distancing in classrooms — six feet between desks, for example. The wearing of cloth masks and improved hygiene will also be required, he said.

COVID-19 in “not a fatal disease for most young people,” Reykdal said. But the precautions at school are necessary to limit the spread to and among adults and “vulnerable people.”

The plans, which will need to be approved by local school boards and reviewed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, will also need to outline the response to a local outbreak of COVID-19, Reykdal said.

“It will not be easy, and lots of folks are concerned and afraid,” Reykdal said. “For some communities, health guidelines will not be met, or the local health authority shuts schools down due to an outbreak.”

Moses Lake Superintendent Josh Meek said the district has been waiting for the state guidance to get started on its plan, which the district hopes to have finished this month.

“We also stand committed to get kids back into school as much as possible,” Meek said.

Theresa Adkinson, administrator of the Grant County Health District, said district staff meet “weekly” with school superintendents across the county, and will help districts work on their reopening plans.

In fact, she said the health district already works with school districts to plan for other kinds of outbreaks like influenza or measles.

“This is important work,” she said. “We will consult with districts.”

As part of his speech, Reykdal said the state’s approach to online education would also have to change, and that “continuous learning” would need “more shaped and structure” in order to be an acceptable alternative to in-class instruction, though he gave few details.

Meek said online instruction in the Moses Lake School District “went as good as it can,” noting that it is “impossible to replace” face-to-face instruction and the relationships between students and teachers in class.

The MLSD superintendent said he was also most concerned that online learning did not well serve the district’s youngest students — such as kindergartners — those who need hands-on or group instruction, like welding student or choirs, and the district’s disabled students.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected]