As the new academic year approaches, parents in several Inland Northwest school districts have decisions to make. In some cases parents are asked whether they want their children to experience in-person learning this year. In others, parents will decide whether to obligate their children to a full year of online courses.
All children in the Spokane School District will begin the year learning from home. But parents have the option of switching kids to in-school learning when that is deemed appropriate. Or, option two, they have the ability to lock in a full year of learning at home.
Superintendent Adam Swinyard says parents have until Sunday to make that decision, with the option of reversing course down the line if the district has enough space to accommodate their kids.
Swinyard says, during the week of September 8, teachers will schedule individual 30-to-40 minute meetings with their new students and their parents.
“With activities for students to engage in that helps them build routines and habits related to distance learning and getting acquainted with the technology and the model that our students will participate in," he said.
Swinyard says the district is preparing to be as flexible as possible to match the local rhythms of the pandemic.
“One of the new normals that we likely face in public education is having an educational model that can seamlessly shift from a school building to a distance environment. Those are eventualities that we are thinking about, that we are building our instructional models around, but we want to be as thoughtful as we can and be cautious and, as Dr. Lutz has recommended, phase slowly when the time comes," Swinyard said.
Distance classes are scheduled to begin in the Spokane district on September 14.