How will Inslee’s new in-person learning requirements impact Pierce County schools?
School districts in Washington are now required to offer K-12 students the opportunity to engage in both remote instruction and on-campus, in-person instruction, Gov. Jay Inslee said in a news conference Friday.
All K-6 students must be given the opportunity for in-person, hybrid learning by April 5, with the remaining K-12 students by April 19.
Also by April 19, all school districts must meet at least 30 percent of average weekly instructional hours — roughly 10 hours per week — as on-campus, in-person instruction for all K-12 students. Students cannot be offered less than two days of on-campus, in-person instruction per week. Those two days can be partial in-person days.
State Superintendent Chris Rekydal said at Friday’s press conference that 271 districts have already moved ahead with hybrid learning plans and said the new requirements are in line with those plans.
“There may be a little tweak in the amount of (in-person) time they provide students,” state Supt. Chris Reykdal said at Friday’s press conference.
What do the requirements mean for schools in Pierce County?
Districts in Pierce County are already ahead of the game, having either already brought back grades K-12 for hybrid learning or are on their way to doing so.
Bethel Superintendent Tom Seigel told The News Tribune that all 15 Pierce County School Districts are currently in hybrid in-person learning in some way. Superintendents in the county communicate weekly, he said.
“We are on track,” said Bethel spokesperson Doug Boyles in an email. “Elementary students are already back to hybrid in-person learning. Middle school sixth graders started back this week and seventh and eighth will follow starting on Monday. Ninth graders start on March 22, seniors on March 29, and tenth and eleventh will start on April 1st.”
In Tacoma, grades K-3 and 6 have returned for hybrid in-person learning, with the remaining grades scheduled to return throughout the month of March. All grade levels will have some type of hybrid in-person learning by the end of March.
“We just heard the governor’s announcement,” Tacoma Public Schools said in a statement to The News Tribune. “We are pleased with our plans to have all our students who began the school year in person instruction at school by the end of March.”
“That includes K-2 students back four days a week and less so at other grades only because we don’t have the space to bring them all back and meet the social distancing requirements. Once we see the new guidance in writing, we’ll review our plans.”
Except for roughly 3,600 students who are in Tacoma Online by choice, all other students will be in hybrid learning with at least two half days of in-school instruction each week, according to the district’s current hybrid plans.
According to Tacoma high school bell schedules, students are set to be in-person around six hours a week, less than 10 hours a week stated by Inslee. It was not immediately clear whether those schedules will have to change to fit the requirements.
In the Puyallup School District, all grades have returned for hybrid in-person learning. Students in grades 10-12 were the latest to return for in-person hybrid learning two half-days a week.
District officials have previously said that reopening to full-time, in-person learning hinges on the 6-foot social distancing requirements. They say they don’t have room for all students full-time unless that requirement becomes smaller.
Inslee said Friday those requirements are being considered by health officials.
Pierce County districts have not been in full-time, in-person learning for a year. Inslee ordered schools in Pierce County to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic last March.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 1:01 PM.
