When will Tacoma schools move to 3 feet social distancing in the classroom?
Tacoma students will remain at six feet of social distancing in classrooms for the remainder for the school year.
Tacoma Public Schools officials came to the decision this month despite updated guidance from Gov. Jay Inslee allowing school districts to reduce social distancing between students to three feet in classroom settings.
Tacoma’s reasoning is that students — and their families — have been through quite enough already. Changing from six feet to three feet would mean restructuring a new student schedule to allow more students in the classroom at one time.
“It seems really logical to me,” said Tacoma school board member Elizabeth Bonbright at a meeting on April 1. “With the potential to shift back and forth, it’s so much easier on everybody to just stick with the six feet.”
The guidance also can change anytime, said deputy superintendent Joshua Garcia, depending on COVID-19 case trends.
In Pierce County as of March 29, the COVID-19 case rate was 181.3 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period. While the numbers are nowhere near as high as they were in the fall, the trend is up, according to data from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The new three-foot social distancing guidelines, first recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, also come with limitations.
The smaller distance only applies between students within classrooms. Adults and students must maintain six feet between them. Six feet must also be maintained in common areas like lobbies and auditoriums, during activity where high exhalation occurs, such as singing, band and sports, and when masks cannot be worn, such as when eating.
Instead of this school year, Tacoma Public School leaders aim to roll out a three-feet social distancing plan for summer programming, giving them time to work out how the new schedules will look for the fall.
TPS serves roughly 29,000 students in Pierce County, but roughly 4,000 are enrolled in Tacoma Online, a remote-only learning platform.
Other districts in Pierce County also are electing to wait.
Bethel School District, which serves 20,000 students in Pierce County, will not move to three-feet social distancing until the fall, said spokesperson Doug Boyles in an email.
Meanwhile, the Puyallup School District, serving 22,000 students, has shared its plan to expand in-person learning for some students from two days to four days a week, allowing more students in the classroom at one time.
