The Spokane School District is moving closer to bringing middle and high school students back to the classroom on March 1.
This week, administrators will held webinars to explain their plans to parents last night for middle school. They'll host another one for parents of high school students tonight [Tuesday].Superintendent Adam Swinyard says the older students will follow the model adopted for fifth and sixth graders. They returned to the classroom last Wednesday.
“Our students in five through twelfth grade will be participating on a hybrid schedule, so they’re divided into an A group and a B group. They alternate which days they attend in person. The rationale around that is it mitigates the total number of kids on campus at any one time. It also enables us to have class sizes that match the parameters of the six-foot social distancing," he said.
He says the district are able to meet social distancing guidelines with 20 students in kindergarten-through-fourth grade classes. They are in the classroom four days-a-week.
Older students’ classrooms will likely have fewer students than 20 at one time. Swinyard says the district doesn’t have enough classrooms to bring the older students back more than twice weekly.
As long as there are social distancing requirements, Swinyard expects middle and high school students will attend on the hybrid schedule, two days at school, three days at home.
You can register for this week’s webinars at the school district’s website.