MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District is preparing to provide more help to middle and high school students who are falling behind in their studies as a result of nearly a year, in one form or another, of online classes.

Speaking at an online Zoom meeting of the Moses Lake School Board on Thursday, Superintendent Josh Meek said the district is “trying to get the failure rate under control” and hopes to reduce it by 10% by mid-April.

In a presentation to the board, Meek said while the failure rate among high school students has fallen to around 24% from nearly 30%, it has risen slightly among middle schoolers to 20% from just under 18%.

Among the steps the district is taking to help students and their families will be opening after-hours assistance no later than March 1 for one evening or afternoon per week “at each school location” where teachers will provide live and in-person help for any student who needs it.

The MLSD is also planning a live help and support line that should be running Feb. 22, assigning people across the district to reach out “to families that have students not engaging, passing or participating” in class by March 1, and allowing students doing full remote instruction to do their online instruction “on campus” and “under the supervision of school staff” beginning Feb. 22.

“This is a big problem,” Meek said of the current failure rate. “We feel confident moving forward with the interventions.”

If the interventions do not work, however, Meek said the district will expand its efforts to engage struggling students, suggesting options like “a tutoring bus” to move around the district, individual Zoom sessions, changes to graduation policies and more support for families.

But Meek noted the answer to the current problems so many students are having is to reopen the district’s schools.

“We do not want to be in this forever; it’s a step to getting more kids onto campus in safe ways,” he said.

At the beginning of the school year, students in the MLSD got to choose to either go to school full time, a combination of part-time online and in-class instruction, or use the district’s customized full-time online learning system, called APEX.

However, all high school students started the school year doing full-time remote learning, and several schools across the district have been closed for short periods of time because of COVID-19 outbreaks.

“I’m really glad for this plan,” said board member Shannon Hintz, who also sits on the district’s truancy committee. “Kids need in-person help, and this will give us another tool to get our kids on track.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.