Before recessing for the winter holidays, the Edmonds School District Wednesday updated families on plans to return more students to in-person learning in 2021.
In a statement signed by Superintendent Gustavo Balderas, the district announced plans to bring more special education programs back into school buildings in January. Returning programs fall under Stage 1 the district’s re-entry plan and include Developmental Kindergarten, Intensive Support, Project Search, some VOICE students and all Developmental Kindergarten programs like language, cognition, social/emotional, speech, and/or motor skills.
Plans to return to in-person learning will be based on information provided by the Snohomish Health District.
The full statement can be read below:
Dear Edmonds School District families,
As we approach the much needed and well deserved two week Winter Break, we want to provide you an update on our plans to bring more of our students back to in-person learning.
We are moving forward with bringing more Special Education programs back into our buildings in January. These programs are part of Stage One of the Edmonds Schools Stages of Re-entry plan.
While the number of COVID-19 cases remain high, the Snohomish Health District has given us guidance to continue moving forward with bringing more of our students back for face-to-face instruction.
Timeline
- Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 – As planned and previously communicated, we plan to bring our Developmental Kindergarten classes back into our school buildings. Our Developmental Kindergarten programs serve students with disabilities including deficits in language, cognition, social/emotional, speech, and/or motor skills.
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021 – We plan to bring in Intensive Support programs housed at Brier Elementary School and at Maplewood K-8. We also plan to bring back the Intensive Support program at Scriber Lake High School, the Project Search program, and some VOICE students.
- February 2021- While we are still working with health officials, our hope is to get more students back into our school buildings in February and we will continue to update you with more information as we move forward.
Next Steps for re-entry plans
With vaccines on the way and health officials guiding all our decisions, we are hopeful we will be able to get more of our kids back into our school buildings in 2021. We know this has been a hard year for everyone. We will not stop working to get our students back into our schools and will continue to keep the health of our students, staff, families and community at the forefront of all our decisions.
Snohomish Health District video
We continue to work with Snohomish Health District on all decisions for in-person learning. I encourage you to watch this video they put together that answers a lot of questions you may have. It’s a 10 minute video, but I do believe it is worth the time.
Thank you
We appreciate your patience and understanding. Again, we are doing all we can to make the best decisions with the information we have. As we get close to ending 2020, we all hope for a brighter 2021.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gustavo Balderas
Superintendent
Anyone starting to think that Inslees “Science and data” is really just polling data?
The first mistake made by the Edmonds school district, mayors, county execs., legislators governors and even POTUS was to turn decision making of any sort over to “health officials”. Health officials were elected by no one and the fact that they are listened to by public officials who have power over citizens lives has been really appalling. The socio-economic destruction of our communities and the yet to be fully known psychological damage done to our children by this protracted lockdown will far outstrip any losses from the covid flu. Regarding schools, it has been shown months ago that COVID does not affect anyone under 20 years old and that group most likely are not transmitters, so there has been no reason to not have in person learning. This debacle needs to stop now.
OK – So, am I the only person out there that is completely annoyed by government in washington state? If I am reading this correctly the Special Needs kids are high on the list to return to the classroom above every one else.
OK – TIMEOUT – The special needs kids?
REWIND – My aunt has special needs, her husband has special needs, my other uncle I am pretty sure is related to the rain man and has special needs. My family has donated countless hours and time with the L’arche community. I have worked closely with people that have special needs. So, i get to say something…
The last people in the world i would think could follow COVID policies are people with special needs.
So once again COMMON SENSE isn’t common when it comes to the Edmonds School District.
Bottom Line – The school union doesn’t care about the kids with special needs so let them come back first.
The politics of all this is getting really old. Get the kids back in school and free their parents up from the insanity of homeschooling (the irony in all this is the parents who actually enjoy homeschooling never sending their kids back = less money for the school district).
It is a crazy thought but your teachers might actually be more effective in a classroom with their kids and I am pretty sure they can provide a safe learning environment. The private schools have been doing that for 5 months now.
Want to talk about equality? Why do the private school kids get to go to school while the public school kids have to stay home? Put your money where your mouth is Edmonds! Don’t forget your Equality mission.