By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – Steve Cooper hit the switch at exactly 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, lighting up the grandstands and the football/soccer field at Waldport High School.
Except for a volunteer with a drone to record the event and a reporter, no one else was around. Cooper, the school’s athletic director and assistant principal, wanted to show the 34 seniors at Waldport High that the school’s staff is there for them.
On Wednesday, Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown extended the shutdown of public school buildings for the remainder of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instruction is supposed to continue through online courses, video chats and other forms of distance learning.
Except for seniors who had fallen behind with credits needed to graduate, all others on track to graduate before the state closed schools last month will receive passing grades and are assured of graduation.
“We want to make sure the kids know we’re taking care of them,” Cooper said as Jeff Berg of Waldport guided his drone over the field. “This is their world. This is important to them. We’re thinking about them and we’re empathizing with the them.”
Cooper said rural schools like Waldport, which has 185 students, are different because they are often the main social center for teenagers.
“We have students coming from 15 miles up the Alsea River, from all the way up Yachats River Road and all over the place,” he said. “They can’t simply go over to a friend’s house. This is their universe.”
So each Wednesday evening at 8:20, Cooper will go to the stadium and turn on the lights – a practice that’s catching on at closed schools across the country. The time converts to the military time of 20:20, the graduation year. Then Cooper will post the images on local Facebook accounts.
“This is to honor them,” he said.
Student Success Act also put on hold
In making her announcement Wednesday, Brown said it is impossible to adhere to critical social distancing measures in classrooms and schools and that that Oregon’s school staff are typically older and potentially more vulnerable to COVID-19.
“Every state in the country is struggling with these decisions,” she said. “I know this is certainly not what any of us were hoping for, but it is truly the best decision for our system.”
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had already cancelled classes in his state for the rest of the school year.
Brown also addressed the state’s $1 billion a year Student Success Act funds, noting that many districts were ramping up to hire more staff with those funds. “We have directed school districts to put those plans on ice,” Brown said.
The Lincoln County School District had been anticipating $4.5 million from that initiative to fund everything from middle school sports to summer school to hiring more counselors, nurses and classroom aides and had submitted it’s plan to the state for approval.
The Oregon Education Association, which is the state’s largest teacher union, and the Oregon School Boards Association suported Brown’s decision, which had been expected. Districts are to continue paying employees.
During the press conference Wednesday, Brown said she had no timeline for reopening closed businesses or relaxing other social distancing measures.
As part of her directive, Brown also ordered Oregon’s public colleges to also extend their classroom shutdown through June. The governor said incoming students already accepted to Oregon’s public colleges and universities before she ordered public schools to close are guaranteed admission this fall regardless of how they do in the final months of their high school career.
Brown called on the state’s 197 school districts to focus on seniors who were not meeting graduation requirements when schools closed. Districts are to create personalized graduation and transition plans for each senior and help them proceed with college, job training, military service or other goals.
Colt Gill, who heads the state Department of Education, said this approach frees up seniors’ teachers, school counselors and administrators to ensure they seek out every student who was failing a required course and help them earn the needed graduation credits.
If seniors have met the graduation threshold and do not need continued study, their schooling might be done. Their version of distance learning is up to them and their district.
“If districts want to keep seniors fully engaged in coursework, they can,” Marc Siegel, the department’s communications director, said later.
Gill said it’s also up to individual districts to decide whether to extend school into the summer. Some might also choose to start the 2020-21 school year early.
Sports and extracurricular activities are canceled. Districts are encouraged to create alternatives to in-person proms, senior trips, commencement and other milestone events, or to reschedule them for when social distancing can be lifted.
“Think of creative ways to celebrate this class,” Gill said. “This is a class that we know are developing a lot of resilience right now, and we believe they’re ready for their next steps in life.”
How Lincoln County district reacts
Lincoln County School District Superintendent Karen Gray, in a series of announcements to the school community Wednesday, praised students and their families for their patience.
Seniors with enough credit to graduate are finished, Gray said. Seniors still needing credits have until the end of August to complete course work.
“To say that the last few months of high school for the Class of 2020 has been anything but normal is an understatement,” Gray said. “It has been met with changing deadlines, uncertain requirements, anticipation of announcements, and for many, a sense of loss. The students, staff, families and friends of our seniors have been patient, and we appreciate all of you for your grace through this time of uncertainty.”
Gray said that teachers and counselors will still help seniors with college plans, financial aid forms, and scholarship applications.
“We will contact every senior and make a post secondary plan with them and assist them to get where they want to be,” Gray said. “We also have every intention to celebrate a formal graduation with as many of you as possible when restrictions are lifted and we can gather again.”
The district is implementing its supplemental learning program, including distribution of 1,200 computer tablets to students who needed them, starting Monday for middle and high school students and April 20 for elementary students.
It will also continue offering meals – breakfasts, lunches and some dinners – every weekday. It has averaged 2,500 meals a day since mid-March.
“We will persevere and continue to do what is best for kids to the very best of our ability,” Gray said in a notice posted on the district’s website.
State issues guidelines for schools
Last week, the Department of Education instructed districts to contact students, ensure they were physically safe and healthy, address any behavioral health issues and then deal with learning. Next week, districts are to provide instruction in earnest.
“This does look different across the entire state,” Gill said Wednesday. “I want to be clear that distance learning is not synonymous with online learning, although it is online learning in some cases.”
Examples he gave included teachers working with a group of students through a video or audio conference, having one-on-one calls with students and posting a YouTube video of a teaching session.
“We have places in Eastern Oregon where they don’t have great internet connections where our school buses are delivering learning packets to students, and they’re bringing those back to the teachers and getting evaluative feedback on those,” Gill said.
Oregon’s recommendations mirror those in Washington, California, Kansas, Utah and other states, he said. The Department of Education has posted resources for educators and families, including a sample daily schedule for distance learning.
“It’s a heavy lift. It’s a heavy lift for the educators. It’s a heavy lift for our parents, as well,” Gill said.
Dick Hughes of the Oregon Capital Bureau contributed to this report