School closure remains for entire school year

OLYMPIA ― Gov. Jay Inslee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal Monday announced the extension of school closures for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. The order keeps both public and private schools closed in accordance with the governor's original order on March 13.

The governor's proclamation prohibits in-person instruction through June 19, with exceptions for students with disabilities and English language learners for whom distance learning would present challenges. Facilities remain accessible for limited use, including providing child care and packing take-home meals for students' families to pick up. All activities must follow Department of Health social distancing guidelines.

"This closure is guided by science and is our greatest opportunity to keep our kids, educators and communities safe," Inslee said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "If there is any opportunity to bring students back for a few days, including graduation ceremonies for our seniors, we will continue to explore that option. That opportunity will be guided by our collective behavior and the success we can achieve with the choices we make today."

From the beginning, Colfax Superintendent Jerry Pugh said they have been anticipating and preparing for the extended school closure announcement.

"We were hoping that it would not happen as we are missing having our students in our schools and classrooms," Pugh said.

School districts in the county, since the initial announcement of closure on March 13, have been working to provide distance learning plans and meals for students while they can't be in the classroom.

"There is no question about it: Our educators and school staff are absolutely dedicated to continuing to provide supports for students and their learning," Reykdal said. "We have already seen districts step up to provide meals for students in need and child care for the children of essential workers. Over the past three weeks, they have prepared for and begun providing continuous learning for students – and this will only get better and more sophisticated over time. We will continue serving our students and we will persevere through this."

"We will have a ton of learning moving forward during this process," St. John/Endicott Superintendent Suzanne Schmick said. "I'm just wanting to keep the focus of full support to the students, families and staff during this time. We want to keep a positive outlook going forward. There might have to be some adjustments we will need to make along the way, but my biggest focus will be supporting these students, families and staff."

Pugh said the Colfax School District is learning how to improve online teaching and learning daily. He thanked the families for their patience and understanding during this process to do what's best for the students.

"We have a distance learning plan that we began implementing last week," Pugh said. "We have made multiple contacts with our families regarding internet connectivity. For those who are unable to access the internet, we will implement a system to get information delivered to them on a weekly basis."

School breakfast and lunches will continue to be provided to students for the remainder of this school year.

Pugh suggested for any family that may have questions during this time to reach out to their teachers and building principals.

"We are here to listen and to provide our best effort in answering questions and helping to resolve concerns," Pugh said. "As time goes on this becomes more and more difficult as we become restless and deal with boredom. Following the guidelines from our state and national government will help us to defeat this pandemic quicker and return to some form of normalcy sooner."

In surrounding school districts, outside the county, including Cheney and Medical Lake, they have begun online instruction, offering curriculum content via special pages on their websites.

"Although I anticipated the announcement was most likely coming, it felt terrible to hear the Governor share this news," Cheney School District Superintendent Rob Roettger said in a statement Monday night. "I felt like I had a pit in my stomach while listening to the press conference as I still clung to a small amount of hope that students and staff would return and we could complete the school year."

Inslee said students' grades will not suffer as a result of the closure and encouraged them to take advantage of remaining learning opportunities. The governor also asked teachers and administrators to work together on the best path forward for the remainder of the school year.

School staff have been working on developing an online curriculum since Inslee's original order of March 13, addressing issues of content but also of access as some families lack the technology needed for online instruction. Many districts in the region have issued Chromebooks to students, along with assessing some families' internet capabilities to ensure they have enough bandwidth for two, three or more students to be online at the same time.