Highland Elementary School Principal Christi Cheever greets students coming in for brief in-person lessons on Oct. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
It will be at least a month before any Salem-Keizer students can resume in-person classes – and a new set of state rules released Tuesday means the district must figure out how to offer Covid tests at schools by early March to do so.
Oregon education and health officials are now recommending school districts resume in-person classes even with higher levels of new Covid cases than allowed under previous guidelines. That comes after Gov. Kate Brown in December said she wanted to see more Oregon students back in classrooms and would allow school districts, not the state, to decide when to resume.
Both Marion and Polk counties remain over the new state-recommended threshold for resuming even elementary school in-person, but districts aren’t required to follow that recommendation.
Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry said the district still plans to bring kindergarten and first grade students back into schools in late February or early March. That’s allowed under new state guidelines, so long as Covid tests are available by March 1 for students and employees with symptoms of illness.
Other state requirements for in-person school, including mask requirements and limiting the number of students in one room at a time, remain in effect.
By March 12, the district’s goal is to have kindergarten through fifth grade students back on campus, district administrators told the Salem-Keizer School Board Tuesday.
“We want kids back in school in person. We are still going to do everything we can to start slow, which will be our youngest learners,” Perry said.
Those classes still won’t resemble regular school, district administrators cautioned earlier this month. Most students would have in-person class two days per week and remain online the rest of the week.
A return to in-person classes for middle and high school students won’t come until at least the fourth quarter of the school year, Perry said, which starts April 12.
But the district will continue to expand other in-person offerings for older students in February and March, she said. That will include more help in small groups for students struggling with online classes, particularly high school seniors in danger of not graduating.
Perry said figuring out how to offer Covid testing will be a logistical challenge. The district plans to work with local health departments.
The state recommendation is part of a new set of school guidelines issued Tuesday by the Oregon Department of Education and Oregon Health Authority. It’s part of Brown’s stated goal to return more kids to classrooms by Feb. 15.
Under the new recommendations, schools should bring elementary school students back for in-person class when there are fewer than 350 new Covid cases per 100,000 residents reported in the county in the previous two weeks. That would be about 1,217 Covid cases over two weeks in Marion County, and 301 in Polk County.
Marion County most recently reported 1,989 new Covid cases in the two weeks ending Jan. 9, and Polk County reported 399, according to Oregon Health Authority. New numbers will be released Friday.
If reported cases fall below 200 per 100,000 county residents, schools could begin phasing in middle and high school students.
For now, the state rules don’t address vaccination or provide different Covid case targets if employees are vaccinated. The guidelines say this could change as vaccination rolls out around the state.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
WE GET SALEM THE FACTS. Covering your community with care and depth. Salem Reporter – fair, accurate, independent. Subscribe and support our essential local service.
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
