SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Changes are being made to every school for this upcoming fall as coronavirus cases keep increasing.
Mead School District will be having in-person classes this fall, breaking from decisions made by Spokane Public Schools and the Cheney School District.
"I thought that it would all be distance we were preparing for that ... I didn't want to get my hopes up," said mother-of-four Cathryn Rimmer.
She is thrilled her sons will be going back to school. With her husband deployed with the Navy, she has been managing quarantine mainly by herself.
"It's the burdens kind of on me alone to meet all of their little emotional and physical and mental needs," she said. "While I love doing that, I also need a break at times and so this is gonna be nice for me as well"
She is not the only one happy. Seventy percent of parents voted to return to in-person classes, according to Mead School District Superintendent Shawn Woodward.
"We're getting a lot of positive feedback from families which is fantastic," he said.
The school board voted unanimously to do in-person classes.
There were two biggest factors that weighed on the decision, he added. The first was public health concerns by coming back into school. The second was the worries of negative health, psychological and learning impacts of keeping kids out of school.
So what happens if someone gets the virus?
"[The] Spokane Regional Health District jumped right in and they told us they will support us in doing all the contact tracing that would be necessary and help us figure out what decisions need to be made," he said. "We know we will be shutting schools down and reopening opening them."
Regardless of the health concerns, the Rimmer family is confident that going back to school is the right decision.
"The benefit of socializing is outweighing the risk of getting infected," said incoming freshman Ben. "It's worth the risk."
"We are privileged enough to have great healthcare," said Cathryn Rimmer. "We have strangely incredible immune systems, my kids don't get sick that often."
Spokane Regional Health Department's Dr. Bob Lutz is disappointed in the school district, he said.
"I also acknowledge the challenges that will occur for students when cases occur in school, which will have ripple effects not only within their school due to class quarantines and closures, but throughout the community as parents and their workplaces are exposed," he said.
Lutz's full statement is as follows:
The decision made by local school districts and their school boards to begin school in the fall with in-person learning - a choice contrary to the public health recommendations of Spokane Regional Health District, Washington State Department of Health, the governor and OSPI - is disappointing.
I acknowledge the challenges these recommendations provide. I also acknowledge the challenges that will occur for students when cases occur in school, which will have ripple effects not only within their school due to class quarantines and closures, but throughout the community as parents and their workplaces are exposed.
While public health cannot stop districts from opening schools to in-person instruction when outbreaks occur, quarantining of classes and schools will occur to try controlling further spread of COVID-19 and protect the health and well-being of the entire community.