In-person learning to slowly return in Medical Lake

MEDICAL LAKE - After over a month of most students studying from home, the school district will be following many other Spokane County districts in beginning a slow and steady return to in-person learning, the district announced Sept. 25 on its Facebook page.

In-person learning, beginning with preschool and kindergarten, will begin to phase in Oct. 12, pending approval of the district's re-opening plan by the board. A special board meeting to approve the plan will be held Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. That same day, the plan is expected to be made public by the district.

Grades will be phased back in one at a time, once every two weeks, superintendent Tim Ames said. The district has been closely monitoring similar re-opening plans of the Spokane, Cheney and Central Valley school districts and working with those districts to develop similar strategies.

Ames added that those district superintendents have been meeting with Spokane County Regional Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz every Wednesday in an effort to plan for re-opening while following county health guidelines amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lutz will likely start providing data more specific to younger students every Friday, Ames said. He added that data shows that the health risk is very low to those younger students, which was helpful knowledge in deciding to re-open in-person study.

If Spokane County begins to see an uptick in cases and reaches 200 new positive tests per 100,000 people, Lutz may recommend that districts slow down their re-opening, Ames added. The county saw 103 positive cases Sept. 25, and the population is well over 500,000, putting the rate per 100,000 down near 20, according to the county's regional health district office website.

The district already has 260 K-12 students studying in-person. Those students are studying at Michael Anderson and Hallett Elementary schools, with 130 in each building.

Populations studying in-person include special needs students, students with learning disabilities that could include vision and hearing problems or anxiety, and students who couldn't obtain an Internet connection strong enough to successfully participate in the district's online program.

The expanded in-person populations won't affect these students.

There will still be virtual options for families who don't want to send their children back to an in-person model. About 200 students are currently in the district's Connect + program, which is a HomeLink style model led by district teachers where parents are involved in teaching their children. The middle and high school have been using the Endeavors program for at-home learning. These programs will continue to be available, Ames said.

He added that the district thinks some students will return to an in-person model as soon as their grade is allowed, while some students presently in-person will shift to a virtual model when other students come back in-person due to safety concerns.

Enrollment is down

Enrollment is down in the district as parents grapple with schooling decisions amidst the pandemic. Ames informed the board at its Sept. 22 meeting that 102 students opted out of the district, a number that was down to 96 when he spoke to the Cheney Free Press.

Most students lost are in kindergarten-second grade. Ames told the board that only 4.25 high school and 12 middle school students were lost, with the rest in elementary school. Ames said that parents aren't required to send students to school in kindergarten, so the district is evaluating whether those families are electing to wait a year to send their children to kindergarten due to uncertainty with schooling this year.

He added that the district may see a rise in kindergarten enrollment, since that will be the first grade to phase back to in-person learning.

Around 30 students were lost to more "well-established" virtual programs, including Columbia Virtual Academy in Valley, which gained 400 students, and Washington Virtual Programs-Omak, which gained 1200 students.

Drops in enrollment usually have financial implications, but Ames said the district will wait until October enrollment numbers come in to evaluate how to proceed with a possible loss of funds.

He added that the district won't need to part ways with any staff due to a healthy fund balance as a result of being fiscally conversative in years past, noting that any financial decisions start with making sure that cuts go to places that don't directly affect students.

Drew Lawson can be reached at drew@cheneyfreepress.com.