West Ada to start first week of school year remotely. Here’s the plan for later weeks
In a close vote, the West Ada School Board decided that students will spend the first week of school, beginning Sept. 8, in remote learning rather than in classrooms.
Supporters cited a desire to provide clarity to parents and follow the recommendations of the Central District Health Department as COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly in the Treasure Valley. Opponents cited a desire to get children into school promptly. The vote was 3-2.
The trustees delayed a decision on whether sports teams will play games against other schools until at least next week.
What happens academically after the first week will depend upon guidance from Central District Health. The state has created a three-tiered series of recommendations for schools based on the local health district’s assessment of coronavirus spread in the community.
Since Central District Health began releasing risk rankings weekly on Aug. 4, the West Ada School District has been in the “red” Category 3, for which the state recommends remote learning.
The board decided Tuesday that if the district’s status changes to “yellow” Category 2 by Sept. 7, Superintendent Mary Ann Ranells may transition schools to in-person classes on an alternating schedule by the second week of school, starting Sept. 14. If the district stays in the red category, students will continue with remote learning.
CDH will re-evaluate each school district’s risk status weekly, releasing status reports each Monday. Any shift West Ada makes to in-person versus online classes would be carried out the week after a change in the risk status.
Trustee Philip Neuhoff said remote learning is the only way to provide teachers, parents and students with a concrete plan for the start of the school year.
“We have to tell people we’re going to start somehow,” he said. “The only guidance we have is that we’re in red. We either act on the guidance we have or we’re not acting on guidance.”
Trustees Neuhoff, Steve Smylie and Ed Klopfenstein voted in favor of remote learning. Trustees Amy Johnson and Rene Ozuna voted against it.
“I’d like to see students back in school as soon as possible,” Ozuna said.
Central District Health Project Manager Gina Pannell said she expects that if people continue to follow social distancing protocols, West Ada will move into the yellow category within the coming weeks.
Earlier this month, the board adopted a plan with various school-opening scenarios that diverged somewhat from Central District Health’s recommendations and left the door open for a transition to a limited model of in-person learning even if community spread of the coronavirus is high.
For example, after the first week of school, the board could still have voted to reopen schools on an alternate-day schedule even if the district remains in the “red” Category 3. (During Tuesday’s meeting, Johnson proposed just that — for elementary school students only.)
Central District Health, though, doesn’t recommend that school districts transition to any in-person learning until they reach the “yellow” category, in which community transmission within the school district is minimal.
By giving themselves so many options, Neuhoff said, the trustees had made it difficult for parents to plan what the school year will look like. But the alternative would have required dramatic action, he said.
“There’s no way there’s clarity if we’re going to be adaptive,” Neuhoff said. “The only way to provide clarity is to scrap in-person school.”
No trustee was willing to go so far as to propose remote learning for the entire school year.
The board advised schools to schedule times for small groups of up to five students to meet with a teacher in their school building in-person. During that time, students would also pick up any necessary learning materials and laptops or tablets.
As for sports, West Ada high schools already have had football games canceled while they wait for approval to play. Sports practices have been allowed this summer.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 9:55 PM.
