Weekly Briefing 9.25.20

 Current Lewis County COVID conditions

Cases in Lewis County increased during this two-week rolling average to the highest since the onset of this record. For comparison, Cowlitz County is 33, Pierce County is 56.1, Thurston County is 22.7, Pacific County is 78.6, Gray's Harbor is 169.9 and Yakima County is 87.5. Only six counties have higher case rates than Lewis. 

As I mentioned in last week's blog, Lewis County Public Health is recommending that schools in the county consider allowing Kindergarteners to attend school on campus. This recommendation is intended to balance the risk of infection with the impact of not being in school for our youngest students.

Kindergarten

On Monday, Sept. 28, we will use volunteer adults as "Kindergarten students" to test our school opening protocols. Their "parents" will complete a morning attestation that the kids have no COVID symptoms and are clear to come to school. They'll be greeted at the bus or parent drop zone by staff who will take their temps and make sure they've completed the attestation. Those whose parents didn't attest by phone will be screened by staff. Students will go to breakfast to test our distancing in the cafeteria and then travel to classrooms by cohort. We'll do recess, hand washing, and briefly do everything including dismissal in a two-hour period. Our goal is to surface things that we didn't consider so that we can address those during the next week. 

On Monday, October 5, we'll welcome our Kindergarten students to school. We'll be teaching each cohort on campus for half-day. This will keep cohorts to 10 or less students. The a.m. group will learn on campus and the p.m. group will learn at home in the morning. In the afternoon, the p.m. group will learn on campus and the a.m. group will learn at home. On Fridays, all cohorts will learn at home all day. Friday is the day that teachers will use to prepare the at-home lessons.

We are watching to see how this configuration works and using lessons we learn from this to guide our return to school planning for the remaining TES grades. When it is safe to do so, we want to be able to move quickly to return students to on-campus instruction.

Athletics

We will end WIAA's mandated no-coach period on Monday and be able to host modified practices for all athletics in the ramp up to Winter season. We plan to begin athletic practices in keeping with all of the Dept. of Health and WIAA guidelines on Tuesday Sept. 29. Athletes will work in cohorts of 10 or less. We weighed the value to students of being able to have some physical outlet with the risk of infection and determined that if we hold to the guidelines, the physical activity will boost the morale of our students and community. 

Extracurricular activities such as clubs and groups will begin meeting outside of the school day in groups of 10 or less as soon as we're confident that we're doing a good job with our athletic teams. 

Your Role

Lewis County has one of the most aggressive return-to-school recommendations of any county in Washington. As you can see from the current data, we're also one of the most active counties in the state for cases. In order to continue on this aggressive return-to-school plan, we all need to work together to reduce cases. The only weapons we have to fight the virus are masks, hand washing and social distancing. We all need to use all of these weapons in the fight against this virus.

Large indoor gatherings without masks and close proximity to others repeatedly end up increasing cases. In our county, we see this in congregate living (convalescent centers, correctional facilities). Schools are congregate settings. In order to reduce the likelihood of a spread of the disease in school, we need to reduce the spread of the disease in our community at large so that it doesn't come to school.

This virus has created the fourth largest mass casualty event in U.S. history. Only the Civil War, WWII and the 1918 Pandemic have killed more Americans. This virus has done it's damage in less than a quarter of the time that we experienced in the two wars mentioned.

The Path Forward

It is our desire to safely return to campus as soon as possible. Research on the effectiveness of distance education demonstrates that it is less effective than in-person instruction. While our teachers are using techniques to increase the effectiveness, the research is clear (Hattie, 2009)* 

In WWII, families did without things like butter, gasoline, and coffee in order to support the troops fighting overseas. There were blackout curtains and towns would turn off all lights at night in order to protect against enemy bombers. Americans endured years of self-deprivation in order to prevail against a common enemy. We are currently in a similar fight and what we're being asked to do is minimal in comparison to our ancestors. I have been encouraged this week to see people who I know hate wearing masks, question whether they are necessary and feel uncomfortable wearing their mask in spite of the discomfort. I interpret this as good citizenship and care for their neighbors. On behalf of all of us at TSD who are working hard to serve children remotely and also bring them back to school, we thank you for your efforts.

*An effect size of .4 means that for one year's effort, a student will make one year's growth. We look for strategies that have greater than .4. Distance Education has a .14 effect size based on an analysis of 1,143 studies.