MATTAWA — Wahluke School District officials have decided to delay the start of on-campus instruction at least until January.

District officials had planned for Wahluke students to return to school Dec. 1, beginning with kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders. But, Andy Harlow, interim superintendent, said the rise in coronavirus cases caused district officials to rethink the plan.

Under the revised plan, kindergarten through second grade will return to school part-time beginning Jan. 5, and third grade through eighth grade will start on-campus instruction part time Jan. 12. Wahluke High School students will return to school Feb. 11, at the end of the first semester.

“We will continue to plan the hybrid transition and hope to take advantage of the extra time between Thanksgiving and winter break,” Harlow wrote in a statement released Monday. “Our building principals, department heads and nurses will take part in site visits to area school districts already in the hybrid model, taking professional development like the digital playbook, and work with their building leadership teams to create building-specific COVID-specific safety plans and schedules.”

Most instruction at Wahluke has been online since the start of the school year in mid-September. Preschool children have been allowed on campus, and other kids have been allowed back for small group instruction.

When on-campus instruction returns, parents will have the option to continue online instruction, either through the end of the first semester (for non-high school students) or through the end of the school year.

The tentative schedule for hybrid instruction has students on campus four days per week, when they’re allowed back on campus. Students will be divided into morning and afternoon classes, with morning classes from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and afternoon classes from 12:45 to 2:15 p.m. Kids will have online instruction when they’re not in class. Instruction will be all-online on Mondays.