Students to return to school - KFCS November 5 & 12, KCSD November 16 [UPDATE]
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Bonanza Junior/Senior High School Principal Jordan Osborn discusses the new term’s schedule with a student.
“We are excited to be able to reopen all of our schools to in-person learning,” said Glen Szymoniak, superintendent of the Klamath County School District. “We’d like to do it even sooner but we need some time to make the transition.”
Klamath County School District plans to reopen all schools and grade levels for in-person hybrid instruction on Monday, November 16.
District administrators met today (November 2) to discuss the new state COVID-19 metrics and to decide when the district could reopen its larger and suburban schools to 4th-12th-grade students. Klamath County Public Health tentatively approved the November 16 date based on current 14-day metrics and the district’s success in fully reopening its small, rural schools and providing hybrid in-person instruction to kindergarteners, first-, second-, and third-graders districtwide.
“We are excited to be able to reopen all of our schools to in-person learning,” said Glen Szymoniak, superintendent of the Klamath County School District. “We’d like to do it even sooner but we need some time to make the transition.”
Bonanza Junior/Senior High School Vice Principal Sergio Cisneros welcomes students back with an “All In” T-shirt Monday. The school, after opening Sept. 8 under a hybrid model, on Monday returned all students to class four days a week following ODE Ready Schools, Safe Learners requirements and guidelines
Schools must meet all ODE Ready Schools, Safe Learners requirements and guidelines. Challenges include organizing transportation, managing student cohort sizes, and providing 35-square-foot of space per student in classrooms. Students and staff will need to follow all safety protocols, including wearing face coverings and following social distancing rules.
Schools will be contacting families about transportation and other details in preparation for reopening. Students will be assigned a cohort and attend under a hybrid model (in-person classes two days a week and distance learning the other days).
The district also needs to determine if any of its KCSD Online students plan to return to the classrooms. KCSD Online programs will continue.
Under new state guidance released Friday, Klamath County COVID-19 metrics qualify districts to bring back elementary students for hybrid and on-site instruction. That guidance also allows districts to phase in junior high and high school in-person instruction once they demonstrate the ability to limit transmission in the school environment.
Klamath County Public Health officials say the district has already done that. KCSD has offered in-person instruction since September 8, when all its K-3 students returned to classrooms under an A/B hybrid model (two days in-person instruction; three days distance learning). All students (K-12) in its smaller, rural schools started school September 8 under a hybrid model, and four of those schools have now reopened fully with students attending four days a week.
Lost River Junior/Senior High School and Merrill and Malin elementary schools have reopened fully, offering in-person instruction four days a week. Bonanza Junior/Senior High School transitioned from hybrid to four days a week today (November 2). Chiloquin Junior/Senior High School and Chiloquin Elementary School will continue plans to reopen to in-person hybrid instruction Tuesday.
Klamath Falls City School District
The Klamath Falls City School District is working on its own plans on returning students to in-person learning. The latest plan will allow for K-3 students to return on Thursday, November 5, 2020. Students in grades 4-6 will return on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
The district remains working on a plan for students in grades 7-12.
In an email sent to parents of Klamath Falls City School students, Superintendent Dr. Paul Hillyer said:
In-Person Learning Begins
The Oregon Department of Education and Governor Brown recently changed the requirements for allowing students into school for in-person learning. It is now based on a cumulative two-week new case count and test positivity rate. What that means is in a two-week period we must have less than 34 new COVID cases in Klamath County and less than 5% of COVID tests registering positive. We will then be able to start all students with in-person learning. This is called being in the green zone.
If there are 34 - 67 new COVID cases in a two-week period and less than an 8% test positivity rate in Klamath County over a two-week period, grades K-6 can start in-person learning. This is called being in the yellow zone. Once a district can show success in health and safety plans in lower grades, the district can begin offering in-person learning for grades 7-12.
The good news is we made the yellow zone due to qualifying case numbers and positivity rates over the last two weeks. Therefore, we will able to start K-3 this week on Thursday, November 5. Next week, on Thursday, November 12, we will include grades 4-6 in person.
Our plan is to also bring 7-12 back as soon as allowed.
We have been looking forward to this for some time. It is exciting to see these changes come about.
For those who are currently in comprehensive distance learning and want to continue remote instruction, please call Kassidy Rubio or Toby Flackus at River Academy at 541-883-4719.
For those at River Academy who would like to start in-person instruction in grades K-6, please call your school's principal.”