Wahluke schools to add on-campus instruction in November

MATTAWA — Wahluke School District students will be coming back to school for part time, on-campus instruction beginning sometime in November.

Interim superintendent Andy Harlow said the tentative plan is to bring kids back to school four days per week, with Monday being used to help kids who need extra instruction. Kids would be split into morning and afternoon classes, with the morning from 8 to 11 a.m. and the afternoon session from noon to 3 p.m. Harlow said that schedule was chosen after discussions with Wahluke teachers. Teachers chose the half-day option over one that would’ve had kids on campus two full days each week, either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday. The consensus among the teachers was that it’s better for kids to be on campus every day of the week rather than two days, Harlow said.

Kids will get homework for the time they’re not on campus, Harlow said. Parents have the option of getting all instruction online.

Some kids already are on campus in small groups, Harlow said. Kindergartners and junior high students have come to school to take assessment tests, and kids who can’t connect to the district’s online learning platform are coming to school in the morning. Kids in the ELL (English language learners) and special education programs also have some on-campus instruction. District officials are working to set up some after-school options for ELL and special education students, he said.

Wahluke students have been taking all instruction online since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, a reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak.The outbreak closed schools statewide in mid-March, and schools stayed closed throughout the rest of the school year.

Harlow said district officials aren’t saying they don’t expect some coronavirus cases when kids come back to school – on the contrary, they do expect some cases. Since the beginning of the school year five coronavirus cases have been identified in Wahluke schools, although none originated on campus.

District officials believe the risk of leaving kids at home is greater than the risk of having them on campus, Harlow said.

When on-campus instruction does start, teachers, parents and students will be required to go through a daily screening and temperature checks, wear masks in the building and conform to social distancing rules.