Dear Parents and Guardians,

Our pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade students returned to hybrid in-person learning last week and it was great having them back in class. I can’t thank each of you enough for preparing your child to come back to school.

Our goal coming out of the holiday break was to get middle and high school students back for hybrid in-person learning in late January or early February, but only if the Cowlitz County infection rate was within the moderate range as defined in the State Department of Health’s “Return to School” guidance. As of today, the COVID-19 infection rate remains in the high activity range, so we will pause returning more grades to hybrid in-person learning until the infection rate comes down to the moderate range. We anticipate the infection rate will begin declining soon since we are now over two weeks past the holiday season.

There is good news related to COVID-19 vaccinations which was announced by the governor and the Department of Health yesterday. According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, all educators can now be a part of phase 1B2.  This means school employees under 65 can be eligible at the same time, after vaccines for health care workers and those over 65 are completed. We are working closely with local health officials to coordinate the vaccine roll out when it becomes available. Our goal is to be prepared to move quickly once the vaccines arrive. We will share more information regarding vaccine availability as it becomes known.

With possible bad weather coming to the area next week snow days are a possibility. To assure consistency throughout the district, if a snow day is called all students will be out of school for the day. This means both students attending hybrid in-person school and those learning remotely will not have school on snow days.

The reason for all students to be out of school on snow days is for the safety of students and employees. About half of the district’s students are being bused or driven to school for in person learning each day and employees from all schools are commuting to their school daily so it is critical to keep everyone safe. Additionally, the school calendar has four snow days planned. It is more likely we will have kids attending school in person later this year, so if we have to take a snow day now and make it up later in the year, more kids are likely to benefit from attending school in person.

Please keep checking your email or the district website for information updates and thank you for supporting our schools.

Please stay safe and let me know if you have any questions.

 

Respectfully,

Dan Zorn, Superintendent

Longview Public Schools