As the city’s teachers union remains locked in a stalemate battle with the Seattle Public Schools district over an agreement on a return to in-classroom learning, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the state’s school districts Friday to begin offering at least hybrid options to students by mid-April citing a “mental health crisis” among students and the push to fully reopen Washington after more than a year of COVID-19 lockdowns.
“There is unfortunately and undeniably a mental health care crisis in this state regarding our youth,” Inslee said Friday.
Inslee said his proclamation prohibits districts from refusing to provide an “on-site option” to families.
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The governor’s timeline required districts to provide in-person options by April 5th for elementary-level students and all other grades by April 19th.
Meanwhile, the American Rescue Plan Act could bring the state’s school’s some $2.6 billion in federal relief — Inslee said he will push for a portion of that to address mental health resources for students. That money could end being both a carrot and a stick for the stymied Seattle district.
State officials say in addition to concerns about the health of students, attendance has been a major issue, especially for middle and high school students with a spike in absences and higher levels of failing grades.
Meanwhile, most experts agree that masking and social distancing measures can help schools operate safely and that examples of outbreaks in K-12 environments are rare.
It’s not clear what impact the proclamation will have on the state’s largest school district. CHS reported here on the ongoing delay in the district’s planned restoration of in-person learning options. The union has cited health and safety concerns for both its educators and students as it has tangled over an agreement on the return to campuses.
Earlier this month, Inslee and state officials added teachers and school staff along with daycare and child care providers to the ranks of essential workers currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.
The Seattle district plan would begin with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students and “a phased increase of in-person instruction for students enrolled in Special Education Intensive Service Pathways.”
The district says its central office staff have been “preparing for many months” for the return to school and “health and safety protocols have been implemented, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is in place, and the district has prepared for student transportation and meals.”
The state is also providing increased resources including expanding a system of COVID-19 testing for schools.
Leaders of the Seattle Education Association union have voted to continue remote-only learning and registered a vote of no confidence against district Superintendent Denise Juneau. Juneau is set to resign at the end of June.
Seattle teachers and school kids transitioned to online-only instruction last spring as the pandemic began to grow changing what it meant to “go to school” for thousands of kids who now begin their days logging on and using online meeting software and services previously reserved for their busy parents and guardians.
The transition back to campus may be equally jarring. Kids will need to remain masked and routine elements like desk layout will need to be rethought to meet social distancing recommendations. Busy parents and guardians may welcome the break in the monotony and a little extra quiet at home but will also be faced with new logistics and new worries.
The district has strengthened its push, designating special education teachers as “essential” to require those educators to provide in-person instruction even as bargaining drags on.
Meanwhile, many kids are already making the change back to a more typical school experience. CHS reported last month on the many private schools around Capitol Hill and the Central District taking early first steps in returning their students to the classroom.
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About time…
Inslee has, to his credit, been one of the most risk-averse leaders throughout this entire pandemic. If he’s urging teachers to go back to school, it’s time to go back to school. Teachers aren’t some rare bird that need to be coddled and protected at all costs.
Except for the part where his admin ordered nursing homes to accept covid-positive patients to clear space in hospitals, helping spread covid in conjugate care settings.
Everyone is “some rare bird that needs to be coddled and protected at all costs.” And so too actual rare birds.
Super insightful, Zach.
I have children in SPS and I can confirm that the mental health crisis created by a year of online instruction is real. Please re-open for the kids’ sake, it’s way past time.
Who is driving the bus ? They are all on PUA and probably don’t want to be surrounded by kids who may or may not wear masks. Lots of chaos for about 8-10 weeks of semi-school. Innovation would be to vaccinate the kids to stop it spreading.
There are several thing wrong with this….
1) Vaccinated people are *not* guaranteed to not be spreaders. While some do, not all vaccines actually prevent infection – they simply prevent symptomatic infection. Therefore the vaccinated can spread the disease – and because they are unaware that they are infected, they can spread it more… While preliminary data appears to be indicating that at least come COVID vaccines do lessen the probability that a vaccinated person can spread the disease, it’s just that preliminary and it’s not at as high rates as the prevention of symptomatic illness is seen. This is the main reason that the vaccinated are still expected to still mask and socially distance…
2) There are no vaccines that have yet been trialed and approved for use in children or infants as of yet.
The bottom line kids cannot get the vaccine, kids can be unreliable at masking, distancing and hygiene. Teachers/school workers (bus drivers, cafeteria workers, janitors etc.) are not being unreasonable to want to be vaccinated before they go back to the classroom…
Yes, they are being unreasonable. Even though everything you said is true– which justified teachers’ position during the first 6-9 months of the pandemic– we now have adequate data to calculate risk. That risk is extremely low. The expectation that we *eliminate* risk for teachers is completely unreasonable, particularly when you consider the risks that other professionals have taken, and the terrible mental health consequences imposed on children.
Extremely low risk? What data are you citing that proves this?
I decided to check out Texas, where school has been been reopened for a while now. 20% of the staff thus far have have had confirmed COVID. That sounds like pretty considerable risk to me. How many more do you suppose will get it before they are able to get the vaccine?
I work in health care myself – and was back to patient contact less than 2 months after the shutdown started… I am one of those “other professionals”, I know exactly what kind of risks I was taking and I think that being a teacher would likely be riskier than anything I was asked to do. Everyone who came into our building was properly screened. We only spend a short time with each of them. We have proper protective equipment provided to us. Amongst co-workers, whom we spend more time around, we all understand infection control and respect one another – no one rationalizing coming in when feeling even a little ill, no masks down under noses, no masks down until someone comes close. Lots and lots and lot of hand sanitizing and wiping down of surfaces. And I *was* prioritized – though it took most of the year, almost as soon as it was available I was able to get vaccinated, so I no longer have to worry about possibly dying of COVID every time I go to work…..
Just because staff have had COVID doesn’t mean the transmission occurred at school. It’s well-established that the vast majority of transmissions occur at home. The CDC website summarizes the literature on this, and concluded that transmission among elementary school students was “rare”.
Just go to the CDC website– they show all the data/literature that they used for their recommendations.
7% of the general population of Texas has tested positive, 20% of the school employees have… the number do speak, but not in favor of your argument…
How many of those teachers and/or students in Texas have died?
You’ve made a ton of unsupported and reckless comments about teachers returning to the classroom, all of which have been disproven or shown to be based in extreme exaggeration. It’s become clear that selfishness is guiding your opinions not the well being of children. Using kids to prop up your baseless claims is shameful.
Sara – the CDC is pushing for this. The governor is pushing for this. And most of the country (and, yes, the world) has been back in school for months. You haven’t brought any data to the party either. Hysterionics just make you look bad.
We open back up, cases go up, we shut back down, cases go down, we open back up, cases go up, we shut back down, cases go down, we open back up, cases go up, we shut back down, cases go down…….
Teachers are starting to get the J&J vaccine today – approx. 1,000 of them (child care workers too) will get it. That will mean that it’s 2 weeks until they can feel safe going back to the classroom…
Although there’s not much time left in the school year, this timing should allow classes to be held outdoors in warm spring weather. I know there had been discussion about using public parks for outdoor education – are people still working on that? It might provide an option for families who would otherwise be too concerned about their child’s health, and also decrease the number of kids that are forced to share a classroom due to building space limitations.
Will schools need us to donate raincoats?