Bend-La Pine, Redmond schools plan for students’ return by mid-February

(Update: Adding Redmond superintendent's letter to families)

Details due soon as districts meet with county health officials, others

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend-La Pine and Redmond school officials say they are meeting with Deschutes County health officials and others as they prepare plans to return students to in-person classes by Feb. 15.

The move comes after last week's surprise announcement by Gov. Kate Brown that the state metrics that have kept most public schools in remote learning since last spring will be made advisory, not mandatory, in the new year, allowing each district to decide on its own when and how to reopen safely.

Here's the full statement issued by the Bend-La Pine School Board:

Governor Kate Brown made an unexpected announcement over winter recess, making previous metrics advisory rather than mandatory. In addition, she directed districts to find a safe path forward toward resumption of in-person instruction “to the greatest extent possible” by February 15, 2021.

For months, our district has been planning for the phased-in return of students to in-person learning when possible to do so safely. Despite the timing of this announcement, leadership immediately began working with stakeholders to operationalize plans into action under the new guidance. This collaborative work will continue when schools resume, as required under the new guidance, including meeting with local health authorities, employee associations, and other stakeholders. We expect to provide an initial plan to our community by the end of next week. This plan will detail our phased approach to returning students back to in-person classes, at least two days a week, by February 15.

We are glad to see school reopening being prioritized, and our board and staff are committed to reopening school buildings for our more than 20,000 students and staff as soon as we safely can. We are also committed to providing our exceptional online program, Bend-La Pine Schools Online, for our students who prefer to continue to learn remotely.

We ask our community to follow all OHA and CDC recommendations, so that when we reopen our schools, they can stay open. And that we can reopen our businesses, which provide the economic foundation for so many of our families and students. This includes wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, avoiding indoor gatherings, and washing hands. Even when we begin to bring students back into our school buildings, school will not be “business as usual.” We need to be vigilant as a community in reducing transmission and positivity rates, in order to avoid rolling quarantines and school closures due to exposure and staff shortages.

And here's a letter Redmond Superintendent Charan Cline sent to families Thursday:

December 31, 2020

RSD Families,

We hope you are enjoying a great winter break. As you’ve likely seen, Gov. Kate Brown recently announced that as of Jan. 1, the state’s COVID-19 metrics for reopening schools are advisory instead of mandatory, and she is expecting school districts to bring as many students as possible back to classrooms in person by mid-February. It is now up to individual school districts to work with local health officials and stakeholder groups to determine when that can safely be accomplished.

This coming week beginning Jan. 4, all Redmond schools will continue in comprehensive distance learning.

District leaders are meeting next week with building principals, representatives for teachers and classified staff, as well as officials from the Deschutes County Health Department, in order to firm up a timeline to return our students to the classrooms.

On Jan. 8, you can expect to see detailed information about when students will return to in-person instruction over the coming weeks, and what that will look like for each grade level.

We know many of you are eager for your students to return to school, and we are too! We want to make sure we have plans in place that will allow us to make this transition safe for students and staff members, and that requires partnering with the Oregon Health Authority and the Deschutes County Health Department. The state is expected to release updated school metrics guidelines on Jan. 19.

Just because the state has changed school requirements, that doesn’t mean the pandemic has ended -- it means that officials have weighed the risks of the virus with the very real challenges kids face in distance learning, and determined that students need to be in school with safeguards in place.

Please remember that even when students return to school, things won’t look the same as a typical school year -- students will be expected to wear masks and practice social distancing and cohorting, and other aspects of the school day will be different.

Thank you for your patience as we plan for in-person learning to resume, and please keep an eye out for communication from the district next week regarding those plans.

Charan Cline, Ed.D.

Superintendent