Reopening FAQ 4.1.21

There is some misinformation circulating about TSD's response to the Governor's willingness to allow reduced social distancing. The following are some of the questions we have been getting and what we have been doing and are continuing to do to maximize in-person instruction. Our goal is and has always been to bring all students back to in-person instruction as quickly and safely as possible. While it may appear that nothing is going on to bring kids back, we have been very busy behind the scenes during the past two weeks in preparations.

Why isn't Toledo going back to school full time like so many other schools? I serve on the Health Dept. advisory workgroup with three other superintendents, Lewis County Public Health and physicians from NW Pediatrics. Because of our work, Lewis County is the most aggressive in the state in terms of return to in-person instruction. On March 17 in our meeting, Dr. Huang from the workgroup shared the research out of Massachusetts that indicated 3' was an acceptable safety margin. That day, Toledo began working on plans to increase in-person instruction in anticipation of a change in CDC guidance that came on March 19. The change from 6' to 3' gave us hope that we'd be able to return students to school in regular order. The Governor's announcement came on March 25- seven days ago. Our plans are nearly complete and will be shared with the board at a special meeting on April 5 at 6 p.m. so that they can make a decision about implementation of those plans.

Why has it taken so long to create these plans? The Governor's indication that schools can reopen with 3' of distance did not include the Washington Department of Health's guidance that staff must remain 6' away and that students must maintain 6' during meal times. This was a surprise to us and has forced us to adjust the plans that we were working on. In addition, we need to negotiate the impact of our plans with our labor unions. This also takes time. Finally, all of these plans have to be tested against all of the other systems (cleaning and disinfecting, transportation, food, athletics, activities) to be sure that the new plans won't create unintended consequences.

Some school districts like Kelso and Battle Ground are having students eat meals out of their laps in chairs or outside. Some have rented pavilion tents and patio heaters. We don't think it is right for our kids to eat out of their laps, so Toledo will be purchasing additional cafeteria tables and setting them up outdoors in the covered play areas at TES and TMS. At THS, we will be getting the new cafeteria tables early (May 16) and renting a pavilion tent so that distance can be maintained. If conditions indicate, we are prepared to provide patio heaters as well.

We will need to order furniture to allow us to reconfigure classrooms to support more students and maximize space. Delivery of this furniture will take some time and will need to be assembled. We will be calling on our community to help us with this effort as our maintenance and operations staff is already stretched thin.

Why can't we return 5 days each week? We have students who are choosing to learn remotely due to health and safety concerns. We also have students who are exposed to COVID and need to quarantine for two weeks. Serving these students requires teachers to prepare and deliver lessons for a week at a time. Those preparations are done on Fridays. We will continue to have Friday remote days for the remainder of this school year. Next  year, students will need to be on campus and we will have 5-days of  in-person learning. 

When will kids start coming back full time? Grades 9-12 have been in school full time (4 days) since March 1. We will be announcing firm dates when we've completed our plans and the board has approved them. Our goal is to return students before the end of the month. 

Why won't you let kids come back to school right now? We have an obligation to our students, families, staff and community to provide the best and safest educational experiences possible. We take pride in our ability to maximize in-person instruction and we will be returning kids to more in-person instruction when we have properly planned and arranged for that to happen. We want to do this right, not just right now.

Toledo has always been very thoughtful and deliberate in our planning.  This is why we haven't had to close our schools due to a COVID outbreak. This is why 90% of our students receive some in-person instruction every day while the state average is 51%. When we put this new plan in place, we don't want to have to backtrack because we missed a step or we have an outbreak.

Chris Rust

Superintendent