With one eye on virus case rates, Peninsula schools welcome back their youngest
Peninsula School District administrators are keeping a wary eye on the recent upward tend in Pierce County’s COVID-19 case rate, the district told parents in a letter this week, even as its youngest students return to school.
“If the COVID-19 case count metrics move above of the Moderate category (25-75 cases per 100,000 population), as defined by the Department of Health .... it could well cause our district to pause in our next steps,” the letter said.
The district is currently in “Stage 4” of its six-stage re-entry plan. Kindergartners and first-graders began in-person classes at six elementary schools on Sept. 28. Developmental pre-school began Sept. 30 and special education students have been back in school at all levels since Sept. 8.
Online learning remains the norm for other grades and parents who prefer it.
The tentative plan is to call each grade level back at two-week intervals, according to Aimee Gordon, the district’s communications director. But that plan depends on the county case levels remaining stable.
The most recent metrics, issued Sunday, Oct. 4, show 50 new cases and no new deaths, with 8,147 confirmed cases in Pierce County and 177 total deaths. That is a slight upward trend from early September, when new daily cases were in the low 30s. The current 14-day average is 81, which is just above the “moderate” level.
Tearful welcome
Meanwhile, teachers and principals were ecstatic to have children from the younger grades back in school.
“It was fantastic,” said Stephanie Strader, principal at Pioneer Elementary School. “It was definitely a bucket-filler for all our staff, see our smiling little faces back in the building.”
While there had been some concern about whether very young children would be able to understand pandemic rules, Strader said the kindergartners and first-graders “absolutely rocked theirs masks and social distancing.”
“A lot of the credit for that goes to parents,” she said. “Many parents had that conversation with their children before they even got to school. I was really impressed with the students. After day one, it was obviously very clear — not only could they do it, they understood why it was important.”
About 88 students returned to six classes at Pioneer Elementary, which had undergone some hasty changes in their absence. To facilitate social distancing, the low tables usually used for younger grades were swapped out for desks borrowed from the high schools.
“Luckily, they were adjustable,” Strader said. “We had little kiddo chairs already, and we were able to adjust the desks down to match.”
Since most of the children had already been online for a month, many were already familiar with their teachers, which made the adjustment to classroom learning go even more smoothly, Strader said.
“We had no criers the first day, even in kindergarten, which is amazing,” she said.
Official Safe Start metrics may be found on the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department website dashboard, which is updated daily. TPCHD also has a web page for COVID-19 Information for Schools and Childcare, which is updated daily and includes metrics for schools.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 5:30 AM.