Updated Ready Schools, Safe Learners - March 22, 2021
Following up on the Governor's Executive Order of March 12, 2021, updated guidance has been released by the Oregon Department of Education. With today's release of updated physical distancing guidelines to parallel the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control on March 19, 2021, any changes to school operations will not take place until the start of the 4th quarter, in April. This means that no new changes will be implemented as students immediately come back from Spring Break. To make sure that any operational changes are implemented thoughtfully and communicated out to students and families in advance, the last two weeks of the quarter coming out of Spring Break will have students in their same academic schedules at all buildings.
The school operating health metrics have also reverted back to a mandatory status, rather than advisory. But this change in the health metrics is much simpler than before with only 3 status groups, rather than 4, with greater ability to remain open unless there are large swings in the health conditions of a school, community or county. And this is all related to how schools plan for potential COVID-19 scenarios in schools.