OTHELLO — All Othello School District students, including kindergarten through third grade, will stay in all-online school until the winter break, after the last day of school Dec. 18.

Kindergartners through third-graders were scheduled to return to school for part-time in-person instruction today.

On-campus part-time instruction started for the primary grades Nov. 2, but students switched to all-online classes Nov. 23 because the elementary schools were having staffing issues and students at two elementary school cohorts were quarantined.

Meanwhile, Othello School Board members Thursday approved 3-2 establishing guidelines for reopening schools in a special meeting Thursday. Board members Lindsy Prows and Sharon Schutte voted “no.” Board members Mike Garza, Jenn Stevenson and Ken Johnson voted “yes.”

The plan has two sets of guidelines: one for preschool through sixth grade, and a second for seventh-graders through high school seniors. The guidelines are based on the rate of coronavirus cases in Adams County, as calculated per 100,000 people over a two-week time period.

As of Dec. 5, the rate in Adams County was about 979 cases per 100,000 people for the period from Nov. 21 to Dec. 5, according to information from the Adams County Health Department.

For preschool through sixth grade, a case rate greater than 400 cases per 100,000 people will mean all-online instruction. A rate between 100 and 400 cases per 100,000 people will allow for a return to part-time on campus instruction. One hundred cases per 100,000 people, or less, will mean a return to traditional school.

Seventh-graders through high school students will remain in all-online instruction as long as the case rate is 300 cases per 100,000 people. Part-time, on-campus instruction will start when the case rate reaches 100 to 300 cases per 100,000 people. A case rate of 100 per 100,000 people, or less, will mean a return to traditional school.

District superintendent Chris Hurst said the guidelines are different for elementary and secondary students because the circumstances are different.

“The situation is more challenging with older students. There are more of them in one building, they have larger cohort groups and move around between cohort groups more,” Hurst said in a press release issued Dec. 4.

“This is a very tough and complex decision,” Garza said, adding he supported guidelines because they provided the basis for some planning.

Prows said board members have been under a lot of pressure, from people who wanted to reopen schools and people who wanted online instruction.

“This is not an easy decision,” Prows said. Johnson agreed that it was a tough decision, and added he doesn’t think it will be the last.