Redmond middle, high school students back in class five days a week on April 19

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Thanks to reduced state distancing requirements, Redmond middle and high schoolers will return to full-time in-person classes on April 19, Superintendent Charan Cline informed parents on Tuesday.

Here's the full letter sent out Tuesday morning:

RSD families,

In the past 10 days, the CDC and the Oregon Department of Education have relaxed the physical distancing requirements in school settings from 6 feet to 3 feet. These distancing requirements were the major issue preventing us from having all of our middle and high school students in schools each day.

As a result, the Redmond School District is excited to announce we will bring all secondary students back to school five days a week beginning Monday, April 19. Students will have a modified schedule on Wednesdays. Specific schedule details will be forthcoming in the next week.

Making this change in the middle of a trimester poses a distinct set of challenges to middle and high school scheduling. An April 19 start date will allow us time to make sure student schedules are all correctly changed. In the interim, our staff will work hard to change the configuration of furniture, common areas and classrooms to comply with the new regulations and prepare for all of our students to be back on campuses full time.

As you likely know, our elementary school students have all been back full time since February. We believe in the importance of in-person instruction. We know that many secondary students have struggled to engage in distance learning, even as we’ve been able to bring students into school buildings on a hybrid basis. We’re very excited to welcome our students back five days a week, and we know we can be safe with the continued proper use of masks, social distancing and handwashing. Continuing these simple precautions will help us continue to see a decline in cases.

Until April 19, our middle and high schools will continue to operate on the hybrid model we put in place back in February. Your students’ schools will be in touch with more detailed information about the expectations of returning to school full time.

We know that this is yet another change to schedules, and we’re grateful for the patience and grace Redmond families have shown over the past school year as we’ve had to repeatedly pivot and change plans depending on outside guidance. With an increase in vaccinations and a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in our community, I can feel a sense of normalcy returning, and bringing students back to school full time is the next step. We can’t wait!

Charan Cline, Ed.D.

Superintendent