La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Dear Parents and Guardians,

When I began as La Conner’s superintendent in July and August, we faced a decision about how to safely serve our La Conner students during the COVID emergency.

In late August, the school board approved a remote learning plan that indicated we would not make any major changes in our remote service model until the trimester or semester.

We have followed that plan.

With the escalation of the number of infection rates, currently over 350 per 100,000 county resients, it looked like we would need to remain remote longer.

Fortunately, the Governor presented new guidelines that allow us to move forward and return students to campus safely, starting with the primary grades and moving forward in a staged process.

Our reopening committee has been discussing hybrid models different from our first hybrid model, and we intend to finish this discussion on January 5 at 6:30 p.m. This is a zoom meeting; please plan to attend and give feedback and/or suggestions. Following this meeting, the committee will present its recommendations and the school board will make the final decision.

We already serve some students on campus and follow health guidelines recommended by the CDC and WA Department of Health. There have been no reported COVID-19 cases of our students or staff in these programs. We will extend these protocols to new areas, and seek other measures we can take to ensure safety for our students and staff. As part of this effort, please know that our custodial staff and others will be working through the break to prepare for this transition, focusing on ventilation and cleaning schedules, among other tasks.

With the introduction of the vaccine, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Based on what I am reading, it appears students will not receive the opportunity to have the inoculation until late spring at the earliest. Whatever model the board chooses, during the remainder of the school year we will have a remote option for students. In January, please be prepared to respond to a questionnaire about whether you will send your child to school or remain with remote learning for the remainder of the year. We are also conducting a poll for staff, so we can be sure we have staff allocated to serve the numbers of students in each setting.

As a last comment, the governor’s guidelines, as of today, indicate that if we have an infection rate below 50 per one hundred thousand we can bring all students back in person. Regardless of whether we reach that number, please know that we will be watching the infection rate and other metrics to adjust our response as needed. If you have any questions, contact Andy Wheeler or me.

Sincerely,

Rich Stewart, Superintendent