More in-person days for Puyallup students with new social distancing requirements
Puyallup will narrow distancing requirements between students in second and third grades, allowing more days of in-person learning.
On April 27, second and third grade students will continue the hybrid in-person and online learning model but have four days instead of two days in the classroom because of the reduced social distancing between students from six-feet to three, Communications director Sarah Gillispie said.
Students enrolled in the hybrid instructional model will attend school in-person Tuesday through Friday, with Monday remaining an asynchronous learning day, the district said in an email to families April 2.
Gov. Jay Inslee gave districts permission on March 25 to reduce minimum requirements for distancing from six to three feet between K-12 students in classrooms. His announcement followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised guidelines for social distancing in schools.
Kindergarten and first grade students are already attending school in-person four days a week, largely due to smaller class sizes mandated by the McCleary ruling.
“The expectation is that they will get more lax on that because they can, but we are already accommodate four days a week for kindergarten and first grade because we can,” Gillispie said.
The district is still deciding whether to shrink the distance between older students.
“We will continue to evaluate enrollment numbers and space at each school to determine what, if any, increase to in-person instruction we can make between now and the end of the school year,” the district said in an email to families.
More than 16,000 Puyallup district students, or 72 percent of students, have returned to the classroom since March 2.
The six-foot standard remains in place for common areas like lunch, activities in P.E., music and hallways, the district announcement said.
The daily bell schedules and bus routes will not change.
Some Pierce County districts have chosen to keep the six-foot distance.
Bethel and Tacoma told The News Tribune they do not anticipate any near-term changes to social distancing standards with less than three months remaining in the school year.
Peninsula School District superintendent Art Jarvis said in a video to families and staff that there will not be a reduction in social distancing guidelines.
“Parents have had to make some tremendous adjustments, but I’m not going to try to throw them any more curves,” he said.
Education organizations have differing opinions on the revised guidelines.
The Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) said the state is one step closer to fully reopening schools.
“WASA has been urging Gov. Inslee and the Department of Health to provide flexibility on these guidelines because, as the CDC noted last week, the science suggests schools can resume in-person learning safely while moving the physical distancing requirement among students from six feet to three feet,” WASA’s executive director Joel Aune said in a statement.
The National Education Association’s President Becky Pringle said in a statement following the CDC’s change that there needed to be more details before districts shift to smaller distancing requirements.
“We are concerned that the CDC has changed one of the basic rules for how to ensure school safety without demonstrating certainty that the change is justified by the science and can be implemented in a manner that does not detract from the larger long-term needs of students,” Pringle said.
