Grades 2-6 start in-person learning on Monday
by Dennis Rahm
The Lake Chelan School District is gearing up for the next wave of students to resume in-person learning as second through sixth graders return to the classroom on Monday, November 9.
Pre-K, Kindergarten and first graders were the first Chelan students to make there way back to classroom three weeks ago. School Superintendent Barry DePaoli said the District employed a well organized and carefully planned incremental approach to getting students back to class. On the return of the younger students, DePaoli said “it’s great to see them learning in the classroom”.
Students and parents have the option of having in-class learning or continuing with an online distance learning model. About seven to eight percent of the younger students elected to continue with distance learning and DePaoli anticipates similar percentages for the next group of students returning next week.
The sixth grade class will be the first group to return to the middle/high school building. Students are returning under a half-day hybrid schedule and are divided into morning and afternoon cohort groups. When not in the classroom, students will spend the other half of the day at home with online learning. In-class instruction operates four days a week with Wednesday’s being at home online instruction.
For safety purposes, students at school will be temperature checked, masked and will be seated six feet apart. Parents are advised to keep students home if they’re not feeling well.
The district’s 7-12 grade classes had initially been targeted to return to the classroom on November 30, but DePaoli said that date has now been pushed back, possibly to December 7. More discussion on when to return the upper grades to the classroom will be held at the next School Board meeting on Tuesday, November 10.
For additional information about the Return to Learn protocols, visit the Lake Chelan School District website.
