COVID-19 forces Tacoma schools to plan ‘for a different model’ for 2020-21 school year
Tacoma Public Schools Board of Directors on Thursday started the first of many discussions for safely returning to school in the fall amid COVID-19.
District staff offered guiding principles for selecting one of the models provided by the state for returning to school:
Reduced person-to-person contact, including staff and students
Fewer students and staff on site at any time
Families on similar schedules
Consider alternative definitions of full-time/part-time
New roles needed to support learning
No decisions have been made on the details of returning to school. The district awaits official models from the state, which are expected to be released between June 8-12.
The preliminary models were provided to schools districts across the state earlier this month and are currently under review by a state work group. They range from traditional on-site face-to-face school, split or rotating schedules with distance learning, or phased reopening of school facilities.
Traditional school is not possible without dramatic changes to community transmission, or a vaccine, according to the state.
“They are signaling to school districts that they need to be prepared for a different model,” deputy superintendent Josh Garcia told the school board in a meeting on Thursday.
One of the models includes split or rotating schedules to meet social distancing demands and reducing density on campuses. Students could be grouped by age or grade, classroom, content focus, student need or student/family choice.
That’ll be largely up to the school board, Garcia said.
“Should it be trying to keep families together? Should it be grade levels? Those are decisions you’ll need to begin to wrestle through,” Garcia said.
Keeping families on the same schedules sounds like a good direction, Director Andrea Cobb said at the meeting. She also advocated for finding ways to ensure students have someone they trust in their groupings.
“As we group kids, I don’t know if there’s a way to get feedback from them or their families, like, ‘Who’s your best friend?’” she said.
Director Elizabeth Bonbright advocated for equity in groupings.
“Whatever format we decide, we need to make sure we’re looking at it from the perspective of the child most in need,” she said.
Director Scott Heinze asked what the district can legally enforce in terms of required masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) in schools.
“I would be interested to know what level of authority do school districts have to require the wearing of masks and other PPE from a staff and student perspective,” Heinze said.
Superintendent Carla Santono said the state asked districts to report how much PPE they would need.
“It has to be just an educated guess … Those are all things we’ve got to figure out,” she said.
The district is sending out a series of surveys to families, asking what’s been working or what support they would like to see.
A virtual town hall is scheduled for Thursday (June 4) at 6 p.m. Families can watch on the district’s Facebook page or at tacomaschools.tv and can submit questions to be answered at bit.ly/TownHallTPS.
More details about returning in the fall will be discussed once the district chooses a model, staff said.
“Our work is going to be extremely intense over the next few months,” Garcia said.
