The student news site of Puyallup High School

The Viking Vanguard

The student news site of Puyallup High School

The Viking Vanguard

The student news site of Puyallup High School

The Viking Vanguard

Back to School in Puyallup

According to Puyallup School Board President Kathy Yang, junior high students should be beginning hybrid learning March 9 or 16 in Pierce County and high school students are set to begin by late March or early April, depending on COVID-19 case rates.

With the potential return to school buildings in small-group cohorts, Yang says the safety of all of those involved is part of this planning process.

“We really do care about our students, our staff and our families and we want everyone to be safe,” Yang said.

Students in grades 2-3 returned to school Jan. 26. Grades 4-6 are set to return Feb. 9. According to the district, there were 4,802 students on school campuses the last week of January, which is about 26 percent of the student population.

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The Puyallup School District released new information regarding the four-cohort model for secondary schools, Monday, Jan. 25. The model allows for four groups of students on-site on a bi-weekly basis. In this model all students will be on site for two half days every two weeks in groups of 15 or less per classroom. This would allow in-person learning for all six classes as opposed to a previous schedule, which only allowed for three.  

According to PHS Principal, David Sunich, there will be a variety of precautions taken when students begin going back to school.

“Kids will have to take a daily attestation and every student will have their temperature taken during their first period class,” Sunich said.

In addition, students will be expected to follow directional arrows and signs throughout the school hallways, with some stairways being marked as ‘up’ stairways only and other stairways being marked as ‘down’ only.

“We’ve got all kinds of directional signage and routes planned in the building so that kids aren’t having to cross paths with one another. In the hallways there is a divider line down the middle. We’ve got stairwells that are up only stairwells and some stairwells that are down only,” Sunich said.

The school board is working to make things run smoothly for students beginning hybrid learning. According to Yang, returning to school is an important step forward as long as schools are following guidelines and rules given by the state and government to keep everyone safe.

“Our board has been very clear from the beginning, that we would rely on the guidance of our public health officials,” Yang said. “We will rely on the guidelines and within them we would do everything possible to put those countermeasures in place so we can bring our students back as soon as possible, while keeping everyone safe, because that is our top priority.”

 

 

 

 

 

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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