Most Portland students won’t see the inside of a classroom anytime soon Despite looser state guidelines
However, those measures won’t translate to in-person instruction for most pupils in Oregon’s largest school district -- at least not soon.
Most Portland students won’t see the inside of a classroom
Portland Public Schools officials on Tuesday signaled that it remains unlikely most students will see the inside of a classroom until well into 2021. And the ones who do will fall under narrow categories, namely young children, students in sixth and ninth grades and high schoolers who need to catch up on credits in order to graduate.
“I want to make sure that our students and their families manage expectations,” Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero told the school board Tuesday. “The trend is not suggesting that we’re coming back anytime soon.”
Despite the state’s looser restrictions, coronavirus case counts in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties remain high above the threshold necessary to allow schools to offer in-person instruction.
Because so many of the Portland district’s employees live in Washington and Clackamas counties, all of the metro region must meet state metrics for reopening.
The new standards Brown and state schools chief Colt Gill announced Oct. 30 allow districts to offer face-to-face instruction for students across all grade levels if their county sees fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases and register a test positivity rate of less than 5% over 14 days.
Between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7, Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties tallied 195, 245 and 190 new cases, respectively, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Since Friday, Brown has placed all three metro counties, in addition to four others, on a two-week “pause” for social activities.
Those orders aren’t expected to affect schools. The governor’s orders limit capacity in bars and restaurants and suggests social gatherings cap attendance at 50 people. Brenda Martinek, the district’s chief of student support services, said class sizes won’t surpass 20 students even when Portland Public Schools is approved for in-person instruction.
District officials will spend the coming weeks figuring out what in-person lessons will look like. Martinek said Portland Public Schools will prioritize pre-kindergartners, kindergartners, first-, second- and third-graders for reentry from January to March if coronavirus cases are low enough.
“I always tell people this takes a lot longer than anyone wants it to because we want to make sure we are being very cautious and careful,” she said.
Instruction for young children will focus largely on social-emotional learning for students in kindergarten, first and second grades as well as children enrolled in special education programs
After that, the district will prioritize in-person instruction for students in sixth grade and high school freshman — pupils adjusting to a new school structure and environment. Among that group, district officials will keep a sharp focus on students falling behind in math and literacy and those who didn’t engage in distance learning.
The final student group Portland Public Schools will focus on is high schoolers who aren’t on track to graduate. Those pupils will be prioritized for tutoring services, tech support and social-emotional learning exercises.
The district already supplies some in-person services, including child care and assessments for special education and dyslexia.
For the last three weeks, Portland Public Schools has also allowed high school athletes to train outdoors with coaches in groups of up to 25. The district is looking to expand those offerings to its music programs.
Martinek said band and choir practices would also be held outside. Still, officials warned such programming offerings are in the planning stages.
“We’re not setting up tents or starting flute practice tomorrow, just to be clear,”
Source - https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2020/11/despite-looser-state-guidelines-most-portland-students-wont-see-the-inside-of-a-classroom-anytime-soon.html
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