Olympia School Board discusses return to classrooms starting Feb. 1

Olympia School District’s board met via Zoom yesterday for a work session.

This work session was specifically devoted to the hybrid expansion plan and pandemic education response updates. Much of the information given last night was based on guidance from Thurston County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek’s advisory letter yesterday.

The focus was on this statement: “I am recommending schools use the Washington State Department of Health decision-making framework and cautiously phase in in-person learning for K-5 and middle school students. Once Thurston County’s rates are below 200 cases per 100K, I recommend phasing in high school students,” stated Abdelmalek.

 Hybrid Expansion Plan

 From this guidance, the board made a few adjustments to the previous hybrid expansion plan that was discussed at the last meeting. Preschool and Kindergarten will still start back to in-person learning on Mon., Feb. 1, but they will do it cautiously.

Instead of bringing back the next two grade levels the following week, starting Mon., Feb. 8, the district will wait a minimum of two weeks until announcing the next two grade levels are able to go back. Although it is a waiting game from there, families and staff will receive at least three days to one-week advance notice that their student will be returning to in-person learning.

Another change concerns high school students, who were previously planned to phase into in-person learning just one month after the February 1 start date for elementary students. “Because the high school threshold is below 200 cases and we are at 293 today, a one-month compact start for all grades is not likely possible, nor advisable. Therefore, February will be dedicated to elementary grades, and secondary grades will be considered for implementation in March. This is very similar to what other local schools are doing,” said Superintendent Patrick Murphy.

Educator and Staff Workforce

 With hybrid learning comes the need for both educators and staff to work both remotely and in-person. Educators and staff had the opportunity to submit an exemption request for in-person learning that was due on January 20. This request can be for a variety of reasons including caring for family members at home, being a high-risk employee, having a medical exemption, or other individual circumstances and concerns. The district is working to accommodate all requests and will have further information and numbers at the next meeting.

Operations

In regard to bus operations and getting students to school, parents and guardians will be encouraged to transport their students in their personal vehicles. However, school buses will be transporting students to school as well and disinfecting frequently with a non-allergenic cleaner. Students and bus drivers will be required to wear masks; drivers will have extras if needed. Students in the same families will be seated together and some seats will not be available to maintain social distancing.

“Largely, bus routes will remain similar, students will not be on the bus much longer than usual. Students will have assigned seats, windows may be lowered to increase fresh airflow, and the first three seats will remain empty to social distance from the driver. We also are continuing to communicate with parents to try and find other ways to transport students to help with social distancing efforts,” said Frank Wilson, Executive Director of Operations, which includes bus transportation.

The district also provided a lot of information on how certain operations will look different, such as moving about the building, accessing restrooms, classroom layouts, playing on the playground, and lunchtime routines. This was addressed by showing the OSD Covid-19 Training for Families & Community.

Covid-19 Testing/Vaccinations

In response to a few community concerns, Superintendent Murphy offered some guidance on the district offering Covid-19 testing. “In a perfect world, we would love to test staff and students every day before they come in. Without the proper funding to do it correctly, there is not any intent at this time to do district testing. We will work with community health care providers when a test is needed,” said Murphy.

There were also some concerns about offering district vaccinations for employees, which the Superintendent also addressed: “All of the area superintendents are trying to get their own and offer them on one of our properties so that we can vaccinate all of our teachers, and that’s allowed. It would be efficient, allow us to expedite the process, and get all our teachers vaccinated at once. We are ready as soon as they have that vaccine available.,” said Murphy.

The district will continue to inquire about testing and vaccinations before offering further guidance. The idea of offering the vaccine to elementary teachers first as they are going back the soonest is also being discussed.

Academics

Elementary students returning to in-person learning will be broken up into two groups: Group A will have in-person learning on Mondays and Thursdays. Group B will have in-person learning on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be a remote learning day for both groups.

The in-person school day will also look a little different than before, with students going home early to complete asynchronous work at home or activities such as music, art, and P.E. that will still be fully remote. The school-day is not being reduced, time is just being built in to provide students full opportunities to do the activities they cannot do at school right now. There is no formal start time for in-person learning yet as the district is still working on the updated bus schedule.

 Because elementary students will be phasing into in-person learning first, there is more of a concrete academic schedule in place right now. Secondary academics require a bit more decision making and will be further discussed after elementary students start returning to school.

Murphy provided a brief explanation of the logistics of the secondary academic plan. “In the elementary, we are going to try and match up students and teachers who are remote and students and teachers who are hybrid. With secondary, that’s not possible as teachers teach specific subjects, so there’s a lot of complexity to it,” said Murphy.

Childcare

Currently, there are five elementary schools and one middle school in the district that will host child care during hybrid learning. The City of Olympia, the YMCA, and the Boys and Girls Club are also offering childcare services.

Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Priddy also detailed the necessity of after school care for students. “As we move forward to offer hybrid learning, we will have students and families needing after school care. Our partner organizations are now considering what that will look like for them,” said Priddy.

All places offering childcare will continue following Thurston County Public Health Guidelines. More details are to come for after school care as there are some logistics still being discussed.

The district expects to have more information on the hybrid expansion plan, academics, COVID-19 testing, and the educator and staff workforce at the next meeting which will be held on Thursday, January 28 at 6:00 p.m.