Kelly Kenoyer
It’s been nearly a year, but the day has finally arrived for Sweet Home students to return to their classrooms.
On Monday, Feb. 1, grades K-3 will return to in-person schooling five days a week, either in a.m. or p.m. cohorts. The following week, grades 4 to 6 will join them for four days a week. And the week of Feb. 15 will include orientations to bring the older students back too, though those students will attend for two days a week instead of four or five half-days.
The hybrid model doesn’t mean online learning will be completely left behind. Families that want to stick with distance learning will be supported, and all students will still engage with online learning in the hours they’re not in school, to round out their education.
Sweet Home Schools is on the forefront of the return to in-person instruction in the state.
It’s likely the first public school district in Linn County, according to Supt. Tom Yahraes, and among the first in Oregon to restart in-person schooling while in an “extreme risk” county for COVID cases.
Still, Yahraes is confident. COVID numbers have been falling for weeks in Linn County, and are in line with successful districts in other states.
“Studies show that if schools follow COVID health and safety protocols, schools are not the source of COVID spread,” Yahraes said, adding that in Minnesota schools are operating successfully even with 500 cases per capita in the area.
“We have the protocols in place to be safe. And if there is a presumptive or actual COVID case, we will follow the contact tracing, we’ll quarantine; we can execute those protocols.”
A key element of the return to in-person schooling is masks. Students and all staff are required to wear masks to teach and learn inside the schools.
“If students refuse to wear masks, we’re not going to refuse their education,” Yahraes said. “They will go on comprehensive distance learning.”
Chief Academic Officer Rachel Stucky said the intention with that policy is not punishment. The staff at each school will have conversations with families who have a “values-based” reason for not wearing a mask, ideally before students ever show up.
“Those principals already know and are on it and are working with those families, so there should be no surprises on the first day of school.”
Stuckey said that, while the district is prepared, she expects some challenges with actually getting students trained on all the new protocols involved with attending classes.
“Have you ever tried to hold water in your hand? How effective was that?” Stuckey asked, by way of metaphor. “No matter how tightly you can cup your hands, you can’t keep all that water in there. And this whole situation feels a lot like that. Because everything keeps shifting, and there’s a lot that is not within our control that would normally be within our control.”
Some of the protocols are really detailed: Students have particular bathrooms they’ll be allowed to use, and will have to sign in and out to use the bathroom.
“How do we social distance, how do we enter the building, how to we exit the building?” Stucky listed the challenges. Eating meals, taking the bus, and even waiting in line now have specific, new expectations students will need to get used to.
“Basically, about half of their instruction is on-site and just about half would be delivered through distance learning,” Stucky said. For the youngest students, the emphasis will be on reading and numeracy skills when they’re in person.
“We’re not going to dilly dally and things, like read silently for 15 minutes; we can’t afford that, Stucky said. Those 2½ hours on-site at K-6 will be very robust, because they have to be.”
Social studies and science will likely be mostly through asynchronous learning, she added.
The district’s plans really solidified after the state put out final guidelines on Jan. 19, although there were some changes that the district will need to incorporate.
“If you operate outside the advisory metrics, there is, starting March 1, a COVID testing requirement,” Yahraes said.
Students will receive masks in a welcome back packet in the mail, and the district has over 10,000 masks in reserve for students who need them. They’ll be stocked in classrooms and around the building just in case, Yahraes said.
As for vaccinations, Yahraes said the county has allocated 350 or so vaccines for staff of the Sweet Home School District, but that it recently pulled back on that number.
“We need to get educators the vaccinations in their arms,” he said. “It’s a point of frustration because I do know that in other counties they have gotten their staff the first round of vaccinations in arms, and Linn County has been dreadfully slow.”
He added that the county attributes the slow pace to a lack of supply from the state.
“I’m working very hard at trying to help them organize themselves for educators,” Yahraes said.
Still, the district plans to move forward with a return to in-person learning, even without the vaccines in arms yet.
“From the post office to the clerk that works in a Safeway, none of them said, ‘I need a vaccination before I can help you.’ And that’s not the stance we’re taking,” Yahraes said.
The schools will be very flexible to allow staff to get to their vaccination appointments, however, and Yahraes estimated that 65% to 70% of staff members will opt for the vaccine.
Despite all the challenges, district staff remain optimistic.
“It’ll just be great,” Yahraes said. “I know our educators, our staff, we’re just so excited to be able to see our kids.”
“We’re so excited to have a different element of joy come back into our jobs,” Stucky said. “We’re missing it so much.”