Othello School Board asks for restart plan

OTHELLO — Othello School District officials will start working on a plan to restart at least some in-person education. Othello School Board members voted 3-2 to ask for a plan at the regular meeting Sept. 28.

Board members Lindsy Prows, Ken Johnson and Sharon Schutte voted in favor of the proposal. Board members Mike Garza and Jenn Stevenson voted no.

The vote followed extensive discussions at the Sept. 14 and Sept. 28 board meetings, as well as a special meeting on the subject Sept. 21.

Like all schools statewide, Othello ended all in-person instruction in March as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and classes were online for the rest of the 2019-20 school year. District officials had a plan for opening the 2020-21 school year with some in-person and some online instruction. But the decision was made to start with all-online instruction after coronavirus infection rates started to climb in the Othello area.

Prows made the request for a restart plan. Board members had discussed surveying district patrons as a first step, but Prows said she had received a lot of pushback to that idea.

Prows said she has been very impressed with the work teachers and students are doing, but that in her opinion online instruction wasn’t giving kids what they needed.

At first Prows asked for a plan by the Oct. 12 board meeting. But district superintendent Chris Hurst said any restart plan would bring with it some challenges that would have to be addressed. Johnson said he wasn’t sure two weeks would be long enough.

Prows said she wasn’t committed to a timeline, and amended her request to ask that a restart plan be submitted to the board as soon as possible. Other local school districts have started some in-person instruction or are making plans for it, she said.

Stevenson asked if Prows envisioned a plan where parents had the option of all-online. District officials worked out a plan for in-person instruction, with students in class on alternating days, as well as online option for families that didn’t want to return to school. But coming up with that plan took a couple of months, Stevenson said.

Prows said she was in favor of allowing families to opt for all-online. She said she was in favor of a phased restart, if school officials weren’t ready with a district-wide plan in three weeks, or a month. She suggested kindergarten through third grade as a starting point.