SPOKANE, Wash — Spokane Public Schools is moving forward with a plan to bring first-and-second-grade students back to the classroom.
In a school board meeting on Wednesday night, the district presented the plan to bring students back.
First-graders will return to the classroom on Nov. 9 and will be on an alternating schedule through Nov. 20. Then, all students will return.
Second-graders will return to in-person classes on Nov. 30 on an alternating schedule as well.
The district said learning for students at home will be facilitated by district staff during the alternating schedule.
Students will attend in classroom cohorts of approximately 20, according to the district’s plan. They will attend recess with their cohort and eat lunch in classrooms. Students will receive special instruction like music, physical education, art and science.
There will be some restrictions for in-person instruction including, the amount of time spent indoors, and wearing a mask. There will also be time for mask breaks.
Spokane Public Schools is hosting webinars about the plan. There will be one on Monday at 12:50 p.m. for first grade staff and at 6:30 p.m. for families.
Second-grade staff and families will also have a webinar on Nov. 16.
In early October, the school district made the decision to bring kindergarteners back into classrooms. Those students returned Oct. 19.
Spokane Public Schools is asking kindergarten parents to fill out its daily health check form online before taking their child to school.
As for social distancing, custodians marked all classroom floors where desks would be six feet apart.
The Central Valley School District plans to bring second-graders back to classrooms next week, according to a message to parents posted on the district's website.
The district wrote that Spokane Regional Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz is closely monitoring the cases among first-graders and kindergartners who have returned, and cases have remained low.
Central Valley will begin with bringing half of the second-graders back on Wednesday, Nov. 4, the message reads. The other half will return on Nov. 5, and all second graders will resume class in-person on Nov. 6.