“It felt like they were changing guidance around protective equipment, and sending out a message that was totally counter to public health guidance on N95 masks,” Hayes said. Transmission rates are only part of the picture: the Department of Health has also told districts to hold off on in-person learning until districts have implemented all recommended health and safety measures, including proper ventilation, social distancing, protective gear, and plans for safe school bus transportation, and until schools have plans to monitor students for illness and isolate anyone with symptoms.Ī work group of district staff and union members began meeting last week to analyze public health metrics and make reopening recommendations to the superintendent, said Jennifer Matter, president of Seattle Education Association. The county is at now 77 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. King County was below that threshold from the end of August until the rate trended sharply upward in the past week. The state advised that districts first offer on-site services to students with disabilities, then “consider expanding in-person learning to elementary students” once community spread of Covid-19 reaches 75 known cases or fewer per 100,000 residents for at least a two-week period. In a late-summer agreement with the teachers union, the district said it will use recommendations from the state Department of Health to help guide decisions about when to bring students back. #Waitinglist for seattle schools fullBut at a school board meeting in late September, district chief of staff Sherri Kokx said a full return to the classroom would be unlikely this school year, and that a hybrid model would be more realistic if public health conditions allow. This is just something that we don't necessarily need to be rushing into,” he said.ĭistrict spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment. And we're already starting to see a lot of schools close again. "So this is still a very, very real situation for a lot of people. “I was just at a funeral back home in Mississippi - my uncle passed away of Covid,” said Hersey. “Very few folks are even really interested in having a conversation, especially from communities of color, about returning to school,” said Hersey, who is Black. Seattle School Board Director Brandon Hersey said that at PTA meetings he has been attending in his south Seattle school board district, there is no widespread push to get back to the classroom. While many parents are eager for word that schools are reopening, if only part-time and for the students most in need, others are in no hurry. Hill, a single parent, is home with her son 24/7 with no respite. Avram cannot safely be left unattended, Hill said, and the district has not offered any in-person services for him. “How do people not think this is a crisis?” asked Kelly Hill, whose 19-year-old son Avram has significant developmental disabilities and is non-verbal. “I’m just really concerned that SPS has no intention of pivoting to any kind of in-person model at all this year.”Īlthough the district had promised that students with disabilities would receive in-person special education services this school year as needed, and state agencies have stressed that this should happen as soon as possible, few parents report that their children have yet been offered those services. “I’m not saying should be happening now,” Olins said. Olins said she’s hungry for signs that the district is planning on how and when it can safely reopen classrooms – but has heard little. Alexandra Olins said it’s been “deeply troubling” to watch her son, a sixth-grader, go from his normally active, exuberant self to now spending his days staring passively at a screen.
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