All Thurston County schools will close starting Monday and into April for coronavirus
Schools across Thurston County will close starting Monday, March 16, through April 24 in a collective action to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by a novel coronavirus, districts announced Friday.
Superintendents from all eight school districts in the county met Friday morning and agreed on a “unified approach around school closure,” according to messages multiple districts sent to families.
The Olympian received direct confirmation on the closures from superintendents and/or online announcements in all eight districts: Griffin School District, North Thurston Public Schools, Olympia School District, Rainier School District, Rochester School District, Tenino School District, Tumwater School District, and Yelm Community Schools.
“The main reason we had that collaboration is that we share families,” Yelm Superintendent Brian Wharton explained in a phone interview with The Olympian. “A lot of our teachers live in Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater. And, a lot of their teachers live in Yelm. And we felt that, if we weren’t looking at this collaboratively, we would put each other in positions where they couldn’t provide services to kids if they decided to stay open.”
The districts’ decision was followed shortly after by an announcement from Gov. Jay Inslee that he was expanding his school closure order to include all K-12 schools statewide.
The districts’ approach aligns with Gov. Jay Inslee’s emergency proclamation, Wharton said. The order he expanded statewide Friday originally prevented public and private schools in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties from holding in-person school programs in their facilities from at least March 17 until April 24 unless extended.
At a press conference Thursday, Inslee asked schools in those three counties to Thurston’s north for a plan to provide opportunities for extended learning during the six-week closure, as they would with packets sent home during Thanksgiving and winter breaks. He also said districts need to continue to provide “critical services” including free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch, as well as child care.
Thurston County districts, Superintendent Wharton said, were already using that proclamation as a “road map.”
How districts choose to roll out the closures and continue providing services is up to each individual district, superintendents say.
“Our message is consistent with a lot of the other districts,” Tenino Superintendent Joseph Belmonte told The Olympian over the phone. “We will be providing some limited nutritional services and we are working with the Boys & Girls Club to provide some child care that will also be limited in nature. But this has happened so fast we haven’t had time to solidify the details.”
Olympia School District, the first district to announce its closure Friday, has posted its plan for serving free grab-and-go meals for lunch and breakfast on its website. The meals will be available for pickup at all elementary schools and at Jefferson Middle School, the message reads. Other non-school sites are possible, such as parks.
Students won’t be asked for their name, identification, enrollment status, Free and Reduced-Price meal designation, or school of attendance, according to OSD.
As more information is available, Belmonte and other superintendents said, it will be shared with parents and the community. Districts generally say they are communicating with parents directly and that updated information is available on district-specific websites and/or social media.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
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