With buildings now open to personal learning, the Spokane Schools are trying to provide options for reluctant parents Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

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Ferris returned to face-to-face classes last week with other Spokane High Schools.

Last week, students returned to face-to-face classes in Spokane. This was the first time in a year that students of all ages at Spokane Public Schools had a real live teacher in front of them.

It wasn’t a moment of celebration for everyone, however. According to Spokane Public Schools, many parents have tried to enroll their middle and high school students in the district’s virtual program, the Spokane Virtual Academy, rather than returning to in-person classes. There are more than 100 students on the waiting list, according to Heather Bybee, the district curriculum leader. She says the students on this list will be enrolled in the virtual school for the next few weeks.

“We are currently expanding more classes to appeal to those who want to switch to virtual,” says Bybee.

The situation reflects the difficult positions school districts and parents are in for a year after the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has urged schools to reopen, citing evidence that they should be safe with reasonable precautions. But many parents aren’t convinced, so school districts strive to offer the options families are looking for.

Spokane Public Schools have agreed with their teachers’ union that educators cannot teach a class face-to-face and practically at the same time. So families have to opt for a purely virtual option if they don’t feel comfortable in the school building.

For some parents, this choice can feel crippling. Nikki Easterling says her sixth grade daughter returned to Finch Elementary School almost a month ago, but Easterling is concerned about her safety. Her daughter is asthmatic, and Easterling believes the school environment puts her daughter at higher risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19.

The alternatives aren’t much better for Easterling, however. Distance learning didn’t work, and neither did homeschooling. She doesn’t want her 12 year old to fall behind.

“It’s unsolvable,” says Easterling. “No matter what decision, there are enormous costs that feel almost insurmountable.”

At the start of the school year, the Mead School District, which violates local health recommendations, was opened to face-to-face classes. In this way, the district tried to avoid a scenario in which parents were locked in a personal or virtual school. Some students were allowed to take part in classes virtually.

This meant that the teachers not only taught the students in person, but also had to look after the students on a laptop at the same time.

That part didn’t exactly work, says Toby Doolittle, president of the Mead Education Association.

“It is not possible to meet the virtual needs of students with personal children at the same time,” says Doolittle.

For example, if one of the students in the classroom raises a hand, the teacher is more likely to call out their name. But the teacher might be missing another student trying to tune in virtually, says Doolittle.

However, Mead had no other way to do this – the borough isn’t big enough to create a purely virtual school that makes sense. You could redirect a teacher to an online 10th grade biology course, but there wouldn’t be enough students enrolled to make it worth it.

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However, the Spokane Public Schools already had a purely virtual option.

“I think Spokane is better there,” says Doolittle. “Their unique focus is either in person or online.”

Jeremy Shay, president of the Spokane Education Association, says that’s partly why they reached a memorandum of understanding over the summer that teachers can’t do both. It’s a heavy workload for teachers.

“When I spoke to teachers from across the state who tried this, I didn’t hear a single educator tell me it was working,” says Shay.

Last summer, parents in Spokane were asked to get involved in one thing or the other: stay with your traditional school or go to the virtual school permanently. But these decisions were rarely made. Spokane high schools say they still offer options for parents who change their minds. Steve Fisk, principal at North Central High School, says some children are allowed to stay enrolled at NC as part of a virtual program or only be allowed to attend part of the time in person.

“It’s hard to anticipate all of these different changes,” says Fisk. “I also know that family circumstances change, whether it is medical, financial, or whatever those variables are.”

District staff, school administrators, teachers and outside experts discussed options for a safe personal reopening last summer, according to Bybee, the school district curriculum leader. They ended up on a plan that could give the students the opportunity to feel individually taught in each setting: The students are divided into A and B groups, who take turns taking classes every other Friday. On the days off, they spend time doing schoolwork.

Bybee says it’s a bit of a college class schedule. It’s now the schedule for grades 5 through 12 students after the Spokane Regional Health District gave schools the go-ahead in January to introduce these classes.

While some parents wanted the school to open in person sooner, others felt that the opening of older classes in February and March was too quick. Local school and health officials have said schools weren’t a major driver of the spread of COVID-19, but parents like Easterling don’t believe the contact tracing reflects the spread in schools.

Now the district is trying to staff the Spokane Virtual Academy to keep up with the surge in students.

“We’re moving people out of buildings to meet this new need,” says Bybee.

Coeur d’Alene public schools went through a similar process this fall as Spokane did when they opened for face-to-face classes. The district opened an optional online school called CDA eSchool for parents who didn’t want to send their children into buildings, but it filled up quickly, says district spokesman Scott Maben.

However, adaptability can be a positive outcome of the experience, says Fisk. Teachers have learned to adapt to changing classroom environments. And schools have learned to adapt to the needs of the students. Some students, he says, thrive in the virtual school.

“We’re learning new ways to raise and connect with our families,” says Fisk.

These will be important lessons as school districts plan for the next year as well, whether or not the pandemic continues. According to Bybee, the district needs to listen to families about the benefits and challenges in order to rebuild the system so that it works for all students.

“We need to make sure that there are options for all of our students,” says Bybee. ♦