By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Delayed for a week because of wildfires and smoke, online classes started Monday for middle and high school students in the Lincoln County School District.
It was the first day of required attendance – even if it was at the other end of a computer — since March, when Gov. Kate Brown ordered schools closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Elementary students and their families are meeting with teachers in 15-minute intervals this week before starting required instruction Monday, Sept. 28.
Even with the delayed start because of the fires in Otis and Rose Lodge and smoke everywhere, there is potentially good news as the number and rate of COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County continues to plummet.
The rate of positive COVID-19 tests in the county has dropped to below 1 percent as of Sept. 5, the last week for which data is available, according to the latest data from the Oregon Health Authority and Lincoln County Public Health. Three weeks earlier, the rate was more than 10 percent.
The county is meeting the metrics for a state exception to open elementary schools to in-person classes for kindergarten through third grade, and is “loosely aiming” to start those Oct. 12, according to Superintendent Karen Gray.
“We are waiting however to make sure the numbers stick after Labor Day and after the large number of fire evacuees all in one place at the Newport Recreation Center,” Gray said in an email to staff.
The news could get even better if the statewide COVID-19 rate again drops below 5 percent. The statewide rate had been below 5 percent for the last two weeks of August, but rose to 5.5 percent for the week ending Sept. 6.
If the county rate stays below 5 percent and the statewide rate is below 5 percent for three straight weeks, then schools across Oregon can start some sort of in-person classes.
For Lincoln County schools, that would mean a “hybrid” instruction model consisting of two days of in-person classes and three days of online instruction.
Families, teachers adjusting to new normal
At Crestview Heights School in Waldport this week, teachers and aides are supplying elementary students and their families with tri-fold boards, binders and tote bags for children to take home and help create a study area for when instruction begins next week.
“We wanted kids to have material, unique to their grade level, that they would also see at school,” said Crestview Principal Mike Gass. “We’re trying to establish some norms in this digital world.”
Gass said current attendance is down about 20 students from Crestview’s normal head count of 325 and another 60-70 have enrolled in the district’s new and special online school called Edmentum.
Gass, who is new to the district after serving as the superintendent in a small district in Colorado, said many parents are under tremendous pressure to keep their children progressing while learning online, and then also balancing family and work issues.
“Parents are stressed,” he said, as they are forced to become more involved with their child’s daily instruction. “We get that. They’re happy it’s going to be different than the spring, but the rigor is definitely there now.
“We don’t want to blow up the family dynamic. At the end of the day I need parents on the kids’ side,” Gass said. “We’re trying to get across that we’re trying to do the best we can as fast as we can,” he said.
In other school developments:
- The district and the teachers union have worked out a disagreement over requiring all teachers to do their online instruction from their school’s classrooms. The agreement says teachers with documented health issues and worried about coronavirus transmission can ask to work from home. Teachers with child care issues will be able to teach from home if they can work out a plan with their principal.
- The district hopes to have new child care programs up and operating in four attendance areas by Oct. 12, with priority for slots going to essential workers and school employees. There is expected to be 20 slots available in Lincoln City, 30-40 slots in Newport, and 10-15 in Toledo. The district is negotiating with Oregon Coast Community College to use its recently-vacated building adjacent to Waldport High/Middle School for 15-20 school-aged children.
- Some athletic training for fall sports can also begin Oct. 12 if limited in-person classes start then. In her email to the community, Gray said the district will begin to open athletic facilities “for our own use slowly and carefully” and then open them to outside groups “as soon as we can.”
