MATTAWA — There was a lot of discussion during the Wahluke School Board meeting on Tuesday, April 28, about COVID-19’s effect on the second half of this school year and what may happen next year.

With all the upheaval of canceling school, the school calendar has had to be adjusted. At the start of the COVID-19 school closure, the district took a week off of school, according to Interim Superintendent Andy Harlow. But the district didn’t need to take the two planned snow days, which meant that only three school days have to be made up at the end of the year. The new date for school to end is Monday, June 15. The change to the calendar was approved by the board.

While the end date for school has changed, the date for graduation has remained the same. As of the meeting, the district hadn’t finalized any graduation plans.

“Cody (Marlow) and his team are committed to graduation,” Harlow said. “They’re really trying to make something happen.”

It has also been decided to postpone the search for a new superintendent. Former school district superintendent Robert Eckert resigned just after the school closures took effect. Wahluke School Board president Lorraine Jenne said that under the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, finding a new superintendent would be challenging. She thanked Harlow for agreeing to take on the interim role.

Harlow agreed that doing a search at this time would be “pretty difficult.” He said that the search for the new superintendent would begin in the fall.

“We hope to get the absolute best candidate,” Harlow said. “We want this to be a true nationwide search. The commitment to do a search and to be open and transparent is still there.”

Harlow has agreed to continue as interim superintendent until a new superintendent can be found. Jenne said that Harlow is allowed to apply for the position.

During the meeting, the board approved the hiring of coaches for the upcoming fall and winter season. But with the uncertainty of what could happen next school year, some board members wondered why coaches were being hired.

“We don’t want to be caught off guard,” Harlow said.

Harlow said that the contracts for the coaches won’t be given until more is known about the fate of prep sports.

Sports aren’t the only things unknown about the next school year. Harlow told the board that the district needs to get better at distance learning.

“Distance learning has been really hard,” Harlow said. “There’s a lot we’ve learned. We have a long way to go.”

Harlow referenced a conversation that occurred among superintendents in the Yakima Education Service District 105 about some of the possibilities for the next school year. Some of the possibilities include smaller class sizes, staggered schedules, starting school sooner or going later into the following summer and continued distance learning. There is also the possibility of changes to attendance policies, no large group assemblies or sporting events and parents not being allowed in school buildings.

“We talked about scenarios,” Harlow said. “I don’t want to speculate right now. We’ve got to get better at distance learning.”

Harlow did say that depending on what the models predict, there is a chance that students may not get back into the classroom until after Christmas.

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@suntribunenews.com.