Benny Westcott
By Benny Westcott
Of The New Era
According to a district-wide email issued last week, with 145 students and staff quarantined as of Friday, Sept. 24, the Sweet Home School District will not hold school Thursday, Oct. 7.
“Staff members will work on (that date) developing extended lesson plans so we can effectively serve all students, including those receiving in-person instruction, online instruction, and those receiving short-term distance learning instruction,” it stated.
Superintendent Lisa Riggs, who took the helm last month (she officially moved on Monday into a new place with her dogs, Willow and Ming), said that almost 200 students are participating full-time in online learning, while 150 are taking part short-term. That’s out of a total enrollment of 1,973 students as of Sept. 9. That figure is down from 2,188 students last September and 2,309 in September 2019.
Oct. 7 will also be used to help bus drivers organize seating charts, Riggs said.
“We want to make sure that we have a good handle on where everyone is seated so we don’t have to quarantine entire buses,” she said. “So much of our time and attention is going toward the health and safety of our students and staff. Our No. 1 hope is to continue keeping schools full-time and open.”
Students attended under a reduced schedule last year, something she hopes to avoid.
Riggs also spoke of district staffing challenges, saying, “We are missing staff, both because of illness and because they are doing what’s right, meaning they are staying home if they have symptoms.”
Compounding the problem is a dearth of substitute teachers. Riggs noted that in Sweet Home’s Education Service District (ESD), only seven are available.
“That’s for the county,’ she said. “That’s a challenge. I think we are seeing, nationally, not a lot of substitutes available. If you have a four-year degree or not, we need classified and certified staff, and there are emergency licenses.”
Riggs added that the district is beginning the process of offering accommodations for employees applying for an exemption from the mandate issued by the Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown’s office, which states that all K-12 school employees must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18.
Riggs estimates that 15 to 20% of the district’s employees are not vaccinated, a number that consists of “probably more classified than certified” staff.
“The medical and religious exemptions need to be filled out with responses that are necessary,” she said. “I’m not interested in evaluating someone’s religious beliefs; I just hope they’ve taken the time to fill it out fully. We feel we can manage it, looking at the exception and figuring out how we can make the correct accommodation. I’m not a doctor, nor do I want to play one at the school.”
Medical exemptions will require a doctor’s note, and the district plans to require weekly self-administered rapid testing and the use of N95 masks for unvaccinated personnel who are around students or staff 15 minutes a day or more.
Riggs reiterated that “Our focus is on children, keeping them in school. We know that social and emotional contact is so vital to learning. We want them being present and being there to give their all, with teachers and staff.”
Speaking of the district’s many extracurricular activities, she said, “We want safe and healthy kids so we can continue those things. They are valuable. Kids and families love them.
“[I] appreciate people keeping masks on and following the mandate so we aren’t fined. We can’t afford OSHA complaints. These things are happening because of what we’ve been doing, on behalf of kids.”