Chimacum, Port Townsend and Quilcene schools are surveying parents and students about their concerns, needs and hopes for the 2020-2021 school year. But what school will look in the fall remains largely up in the air, as the spread and prevalence of coronavirus will likely continue over the summer and into the fall.
Schools are asking parents what they think the future of learning should look like, and how comfortable they are with sending their kids to school with social distancing and mask requirements in place.
Current state mandates will require all staff, students, guests and volunteers to wear cloth face coverings while at school. People with mental or physical limitations will be exempt.
Even when students are wearing masks, state guidelines require they be spaced farther apart from each other, meaning fewer desks per classroom and fewer usable seats on the bus.
Schools will also be required to screen students and staff every day for symptoms of COVID-19 through a temperature check and a health questionnaire before they step into the building.
Staff or students who are confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 will not be allowed back to school until 72 hours later, after they have “recovered” or stopped having symptoms.
Those who develop symptoms while at school will be separated and isolated until they can be picked up. Anyone who interacted with them may have to quarantine at home for 14 days.
Local schools are also asking parents which model would better support their students, in-person or distance learning, and live instruction or self-paced projects.
When schools were forced completely to distance learning this past spring, the model of teaching varied largely across schools, individual classrooms, subjects and students.
In the Port Townsend School District’s “Reopening Plan” released and presented to parents last week, the PTSD teaching model will be a mix of distance learning and in-person teaching. Students in sixth through 12th grade will be separated into cohorts that rotate coming to school for two days of the week, combined with three days of distance learning.
Kids from kindergarten through fifth grade would have four or five days a week of in-person learning.
PTSD is now gathering feedback on the plan before it will be revised and expanded to include extra considerations such as sports, extracurricular activities, attendance, grading, and accountability.
The district is also planning to help students be able to participate remotely by providing them with a tablet or laptop, and home internet access.
Elsewhere, Chimacum and Quilcene school districts are asking families if they have access to the technology needed to support distance learning if it is needed.
Families with students or household members who are in high-risk categories may choose not to send their kids to school in the fall.
They may be able to opt into total distance learning, as the Port Townsend district is planning on offering, or parents may choose to homeschool their kids.
Quilcene and Chimacum schools are asking parents if they are comfortable returning to school at all.
