Dear Coos Bay Schools Families and Community,
I hope everyone who took a break this past week was able to enjoy it and spend some time recharging for the home stretch. The latest two-week look back is out and our county cases are continuing a two-week trend of decline. This is good news as we get closer to our April 12 move to begin bringing High School students back to hybrid in-person learning.
There has been much discussion after ODE and OHA sent out the reduced social distancing requirement for schools. The 3-foot guidance is a change from the previous 6-foot guidance we have been operating on all year. I want to be clear that this new guidance does not automatically mean change for our district. There are many parts to this guidance that are difficult to manage. The fact that we are still required to have 6 feet of distance for staff and also 6 feet for students when they are eating are two things that make bringing more students into the classrooms problematic. Transportation restrictions are still in effect. In addition, although our numbers are coming down, our county still remains in the extreme zone and adding more students to our existing classrooms is not recommended. We will continue to get clarification from ODE and look at our own capacity with the new 3-foot guidance moving forward for the remainder of this year. At this time we will stay the course with our K-7 hybrid model and I look forward to adding 8-12 students to a hybrid learning model beginning April 12th.
I encourage you to keep up the fight against the virus and keep practicing good public health protocols. Please wear a mask, wash your hands, and social distance when at all possible. It is tempting to relax on these protocols as more people become eligible for the vaccine and we feel the Pandemic fatigue. Please stay vigilant for the sake of our community. I will continue to update you all as I get new information.
Have a great week everyone!
Bryan Trendell
Coos Bay Public Schools
Superintendent