Local schools face closures, remote learning due to COVID

The latest wave of COVID has hit local school districts hard as six Marysville schools have had to close temporarily while districts in Arlington and Lakewood prepare for the same possibility.

Marysville School District

As of Jan. 14 six of Marysville’s schools were moved to remote learning: Totem Middle School, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary, Kellogg Marsh Elementary, Cedarcrest Middle School, Legacy High School and Heritage High School.

“There’s specifically two reasons that schools have moved to remote learning,” said Jodi Runyon, director of communications, engagement and outreach with the district.

“One is a lack of staff that are required to safely operate a school … and the other factor is a high level of student absenteeism,” Runyon said.

If a school reaches around 50 percent student absenteeism then district officials will begin to consider if the school should move to remote learning, she said.

For staff absenteeism, it is more a matter if the school can safely continue to operate in person.

“With staff, we look at each school individually, because it’s different at each school, and how we can sustain it if it’s going to be longer than a five-day window,” said Runyon.

About 68 staff members and more than 200 students across the district currently had a positive diagnosis of COVID in the district’s Jan. 9 data.

Schools should be expected to go to remote learning for at least five days.

“We’re not really putting a specific number for that, but it’s a minimum of five days,” said Runyon.

The district is not considering moving the whole district to remote learning right now.

District staff plan to communicate quickly when a school closure is made.

“When a decision is made about a school, parents will get a communication from the district,” said Runyon. “There is typically one day of transition so the schools can prepare and make sure the students have everything they need."

That day is meant to hand out devices and make sure students can access their online classrooms.

“The school will communicate directly if there is going to be any changes with the model going forward,” said Runyon. “We are hopeful to keep our students in school, but health and safety is a priority as we go through this."

Arlington School District

While Arlington has had to close a couple of classrooms they have not closed any schools completely, as of Jan. 14.

The district is also seeing high levels of COVID in the schools with 282 students and staff currently reporting a positive COVID diagnosis.

District staff is not considering a permanent move to remote learning currently or a district-wide closure, however temporary closures may be made.

“A temporary move to remote learning may be a possibility for an individual classroom or school if we can’t maintain adequate staffing, supervision and/or operational services,” wrote Arlington School District Superintendent Chrys Sweeting in a letter to families.

Due to bus driver shortages it is possible bus routes may be affected in the future as well, although there is no changes at this time.

Lakewood School District

As of Jan. 14 the Lakewood School District has not had to close any schools completely but have plans prepared in case that is needed.

“We have been completely open since the holiday break,” said Lakewood School District Superintendent Scott Peacock.

The district hopes to make the smallest closures possible, said Peacock, preferring to close just a classroom or two instead of an entire school if possible.

“We will shift on the smallest possible scale,” he said. “We have an emergency distance learning plan if we have to go to that."

Parents will have a day after the announcement of a school closure to prepare.

“We would be making the shift after a day off which will be taken to distribute laptops … then it would go to remote learning the next day,” said Peacock.

If a school closes, Peacock said it would hopefully be for “the shortest time possible,” which he estimates as 4 to 10 days.

The district, like the rest of the county, has seen increased cases because of the Omicron variant.

“The number of students and staff sick in our schools are reflective of the high rate of infection in our community,” said Kristina Bowman, communications specialist with the district. “The Department of Health continues to point out that schools are not amplifying community transmissions because of a layered mitigation strategy: staff vaccinations, masks, distancing, contact tracing and testing, increased ventilation, handwashing, and communication to families to stay home when sick."

Peacock wanted to thank everyone for maintaining safety measures, reporting illness and keeping children home while they are sick.

“I appreciate the fact that we have parents and staff who are all working together,” he said. “They’re keeping the children safe while keeping schools open."