Royal schools start full-time, on-campus instruction for 3 grades
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 5 months AGO
Nancy Peterson gives a Red Rock Elementary student a hand stamp to show he passed the health screening on the first day of school Aug. 28. The district is moving some students from a hybrid schedule to full-time classroom instruction.
File photo
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | October 26, 2020 1:00 AM
ROYAL CITY — Royal School District students in three grades will go back to school full time beginning today.
Superintendent Roger Trail said kindergarten, first-grade and fourth-grade students will start back to school five days per week, with Friday continuing to be a half-day. Trail said Grant County Health District officials recommended a phased reopening, with at least three weeks between phases. At the end of three weeks district officials will assess the results, and if there are no COVID-19 outbreaks, will start working to bring other classes back for full-time instruction.
Trail said district officials wanted to include one grade at Royal Intermediate School in the first phase of reopening.
From the beginning of the school year, Royal district officials have been using a hybrid schedule, with students in school two days per week, taking online instruction two days per week and instruction on alternate Fridays.
Parents also have the option of all-online instruction.
So far, Trail said, the district hasn’t experienced any outbreaks. He attributed that to kids and teachers obeying the social distancing guidelines, the daily screenings, and parents keeping their children home when the kids are sick.
The number of coronavirus cases in Royal City has been relatively low, so the risk of transmission is low, Trail said.
There’s enough room to meet social distancing guidelines at Royal Elementary and the intermediate school. But Trail said it’s a different situation at Royal Middle School and Royal High School.
The number of students at the middle school and high school and the size of the buildings mean it’s impossible to meet the social distancing rules, Trail said.
The coronavirus case rate in Royal City is low enough that the district might be able to reopen without the social distancing requirements, Trail said. But the case rate in Grant County is higher than the benchmarks, and the county benchmark may be the standard that’s required, he said.
If the countywide case rate is the benchmark the district must meet before reopening, the high school and middle school would have to stay in the hybrid schedule for now, he said.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
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