MATTAWA — In a decision announced Tuesday during the regular Wahluke School Board meeting, officials announced students would return to school in December.

Wahluke kindergarten through second-grade students will return to part-time on-campus instruction Dec. 1. Third- through eighth-graders, junior high students and high school students will return to school Dec. 8.

Interim superintendent Andy Harlow said the original plan was to return to campus next week, but district officials determined that wouldn’t be possible. Under the circumstances, the starting date was pushed back two weeks, until after students return from Thanksgiving break.

All instruction at Wahluke schools has been online since the start of the school year in mid-September. Parents have the option to continue online instruction, through either the end of the first semester or the end of the school year.

Schools were closed in mid-March in an effort to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, and they have been closed since. Harlow said district officials know the disease is real and presents a risk. However, kids have been out of school for nine months, and district officials believe the health risks are greater to have kids at home than have them on campus, Harlow said.

School will be split into morning and afternoon classes. The morning session will be in class for 8 to 10:30 a.m., with afternoon classes from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Kids will have online instruction when they’re not in school.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].