It now will be December before this Pierce County district returns to in-person school
The Clover Park School District Board of Directors voted Friday to postpone in-person hybrid learning and continue remote virtual learning until at least Dec. 4.
The district was planning to return preschool, kindergarten and first grade students for in-person learning two days a week starting Oct. 5 but reversed course after Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department officials told school districts this week to pause in-person reopening plans due to increasing COVID-19 case trends.
“After carefully consulting with my colleagues around the county ... I find that it is in the best interest of safety for students and staff, and I am recommending today that our district postpone hybrid learning until no earlier than Dec. 4, 2020, which is the end of our first elementary trimester,” Clover Park Superintendent Ron Banner said at the meeting Friday.
The decision is meant to shield elementary students and families from the “disruption of launching hybrid learning for a week or two only to shift back to virtual learning when students were adjusting to a new schedule” and give them time to plan their schedules, the district said.
Special education students will continue to attend school for appointment-based in-person services.
“We are disappointed that our county’s COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb, delaying our plans to slowly return elementary students to in-person learning in our schools,” Banner said. “We know how excited many of our staff, students and families are to safely return to our classrooms for learning on-site with their teachers and peers.”
The Board of Directors made the informal vote on Friday to show support for the decision.
“We’re trying to do what’s best for the most amount of people,” said Board Director Alyssa Anderson Pearson at Friday’s meeting. “The science is what we’re following, and I think that’s important to remember.”
“Of course we want to be in school. ... In this time we really need to make sure we’re doing it with the most proper safety procedures we can follow,” said Board Director Anthony Veliz.
Clover Park, which services more than 13,000 students in the area south of Lakewood, isn’t the only district that reversed course this week.
Puyallup School District canceled plans on Thursday to return kindergarten and first grade students for in-person learning next week due to the health department’s recommendations.
Tacoma Public Schools also reversed course last week and said Friday students would continue in remote learning for now.
