Despite relaxed state rules, Peninsula schools to stick with six feet of distancing
The Peninsula School District will not be adopting the recently relaxed state distancing rules allowing for three feet between students and instead will stick with the existing requirements for six feet between students.
In an email to staff and families, as well as a video released on the district’s YouTube, outgoing superintendent Art Jarvis talked through the decision-making process.
“The short answer is yes, we will not see any major changes,” Jarvis said in the video. “Parents have had to make some tremendous adjustments, but I’m not going to try to throw them any more curves.”
In the email sent out Friday evening, Jarvis said the rule changes would “create instant chaos” and require the district to change their teaching model.
“To consider changing the model at grades six through twelve would necessitate changes to all student schedules and teachers, and that would be shortly after the recent rescheduling required to implement the hybrid schedules. This would create instant chaos,” Jarvis said.
“In short, the three-foot distancing represents a challenge that we believe is more disruptive than beneficial for the spring, but it also opens the door unconditionally for the fall,” he said. “We will be focusing our efforts on a positive conclusion to this school year and a successful launch of the 2021-2022 school year.”
Jarvis acknowledged that the change in distancing was one he had previously “repeatedly requested” but said he now feels that “any immediate switch to our learning models this spring will not be wise nor feasible.”
Not easy as it sounds
He said that the requirements are far more complicated than just three-foot distancing across the board. It would still require six feet between students and adults during class time. Additionally, it would still require six feet between students during times like breakfast and lunch when masks aren’t being worn.
Jarvis said the district has not always been using lunchrooms and that would not allow for the proper distancing with students eating in spaces such as classrooms.
“In these COVID times, we are generally not able to use the lunchrooms, and students are therefore eating in their rooms at the elementary school level in particular. This would put teachers and students in the position that they could sometimes be in desks three feet apart, and required to be at six feet other times – thereby making that unworkable in the typical classroom,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis also raised concerns about how current plans would need to be changed after a long process spent completing them and could lead to additional complications.
“Many of you are aware that we have recently completed our efforts to get in-person access for all students from preschool age through high school. Those efforts took lengthy, detailed planning because of the intricacy of the safety countermeasures required,” Jarvis said.
“Three quick examples of the complications would include transportation, ingress and egress of students, and the realities involved in the COVID-19 world that includes health department routines involving those who may test positive. Something such as combining the elementary students who currently attend AM and PM would instantly challenge the entire system.“
Too much, too quick
All this would create too many changes, far too quickly for the district to sufficiently adapt, Jarvis said.
“Not only would this require revamping the entire school bus routing and loading system, but it would again shuffle the schedules for all drivers. The lineup to enter school would be extended by essentially having both halves of the student body now arriving at the same time with attestation forms and temperature taking.
“The three-foot amendment does not change the health department procedure regarding “close contact” follow-up. That standard would continue to quarantine anyone who was determined to be within six feet of a confirmed COVID-19 positive case, even though students had been operating within three feet all day.”
Also, any changes would need to be negotiated with the union representing teachers and staff, something that Jarvis said could not be done quickly.
“Formal agreements regarding those procedures and practices cannot be set aside on short notice without engaging in new discussions to replace the labor agreements with our 1,200 staff members. One of the lessons learned this past 12 months has been that any notion of quick “pivoting” does not work within large school systems or businesses.”
