Start of school pushed back in Wahluke

MATTAWA — The first day of school in the Wahluke School District has been pushed back to Sept. 14.

Speaking to district patrons via livestream Aug. 27, interim superintendent Andy Harlow said parents will be receiving back-to-school information sometime this week. Much of the pertinent information also will be posted around downtown Mattawa, Harlow said.

Like all Washington schools, Wahluke schools were closed in March in response to the coronavirus outbreak, a closure that eventually extended to the end of the 2019-20 school year. District officials had hoped to start the new school year with at least some on-campus instruction, but for the first quarter at least, all instruction will be online.

District officials decided to delay the start of school and to extend the Thanksgiving break to a full week, Harlow said. The hope is that some kind of on-campus instruction will be possible during the fall or in early 2021, and students will have more time for in-person classes.

The schedule changes mean school will end for the year on June 25, 2021.

Harlow said online instruction, what he called “distance learning 2.0,” will be different from what was offered in the spring. In a later interview he said teachers and administrators had little time to prepare in the spring, and the results were not very satisfactory, in his opinion. “I just think we were building an airplane in midair,” he said.

Teachers and administrators have been working throughout the summer to improve online instruction, he said. And state education officials have issued guidelines that are more stringent than what was allowed in the spring – although they’re not always clear.

Attendance is one example. Schools are required to take attendance each day, but that’s one of the few guidelines. “It just gets really gray after that,” Harlow said. At Wahluke, students will have to be involved in at least one live online class each day, and teachers will be tracking work. If kids don’t check in for three consecutive days, counselors will contact the family, he said.

Live lessons will be Tuesday through Friday. Elementary students will have three live classes and additional classes that will be recorded. Teachers will be available to help kids and talk to parents each afternoon. Junior high students will have four live classes Tuesday through Friday, and high school students will have three, but the high school classes are longer.

Some families may not have access to reliable internet connections, and the school district has purchased some hot spots. Those will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Parents also can access wireless connections in the parking lots at all Wahluke schools.