Pierce County school leaders grapple with state’s push for face-to-face learning this fall
Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Carla Santorno said she was surprised by the latest guidance provided by the state for returning to school this fall.
In a document released Thursday, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal indicated he expects school districts will reopen for all students to attend in person.
For weeks, Tacoma Public Schools had been preparing for the opposite.
“The guidance is new,“ Santorno wrote in a letter to staff and families on Thursday. “Previously, OSPI had informed districts that ‘traditional on-site face-to-face school (is) not a viable option without dramatic changes to community transmission, or a vaccine.’”
Tacoma Public Schools, a district of 30,000 students, has not yet rolled out its plan for fall but has started a discussion on what a split or rotating schedule might look like and how to group students.
Angel Morton is president of the Tacoma Education Association, which represents the district’s teachers. Morton said she too was surprised by the new state guidance. With the size and density of Tacoma, it would be difficult to properly social distance inside classrooms, she said.
“My best guess is that schedules would be staggered,” Morton told The News Tribune.
In the Bethel School District, which serves 20,000 students, Superintendent Tom Seigel wanted to clear up any misconceptions that returning face-to-face would mean the learning environment would look the same as in years past. As Bethel has crowded buildings and recently passed a bond to change that, Seigel thinks the future still would include remote learning in some way and that the district still needs more guidance from the state.
In preparation for the requirement that all students, staff and visitors wear masks, Bethel has placed orders for 40,000 masks, Seigel said. He couldn’t relay the cost of the order but estimated the district would spend $1 million for the year on personal protective equipment (PPE) alone, including paper towels, hand sanitizer, masks for all staff and plastic shields for administration offices and buses.
“This is going to be expensive,” Seigel said.
Reykdal said in a press conference on Thursday he’s leaving it to districts to determine how to provide masks for students.
Santorno said districts will need support from state leaders to secure the proper safety equipment.
“We fully need them to help us with resources,” Santorno told The News Tribune on Friday. “We’re going to need help from the state. We don’t have a fund to pay for that.”
Tacoma Public Schools is facing a $7 million budget deficit for next school year and sent layoff and reduced hour notices to hundreds of paraeducators earlier this month, anticipating there wouldn’t be any work for them to do.
Morton said she has heard concern from teachers about the mask requirement and keeping coverings on faces of younger students, but mostly the concerns relate to communication for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. While the state guidance says that those students would not be required to wear masks, Morton said clear masks are being considered.
“I think it’ll be frustrating, but our kids are pretty resilient and are learning new things all the time,” she said.
Santorno said the district will prepare a distance learning option in case of a COVID-19 outbreak in a school. Despite the challenges of in-person learning, Santorno said she wants students back in the classroom.
“If we have learned anything during this pandemic, it’s that in-person relationships with teachers and friends is critical for student success, which is why our primary goal is to bring students back to school, with new measures to protect health and safety,” Santorno said in her statement. “How we can make that happen and meet all the state requirements will take some time to figure out.”
