North Thurston Public Schools puts small group learning on hold. Why?
North Thurston Public Schools, in an email to parents late Tuesday, announced that in-person small group learning would be put on hold after what they called “clarified” guidance from the state Department of Labor and Industries.
“The updated guidance has changed our (local school) districts understanding of the protective equipment and protocols we need to have in place to keep our staff and students safe,” Tuesday’s email to parents reads.
However, the district still wants to pursue small group learning thoughtfully and safely, a North Thurston official emphasized Thursday.
“Truthfully, we want to do the right thing,” Assistant Superintendent Monty Sabin said.
A spokesman for L&I said Wednesday the agency has not issued any changed guidance regarding facial coverings at school, and both Tumwater and Olympia school districts have made no change regarding in-person small-group learning. The original L&I guidance on masks was released in May, spokesman Tim Church said.
Tumwater is still in the planning stages of small-group learning, spokeswoman Laurie Wiedenmeyer said Wednesday, while Olympia’s continues unchanged, spokeswoman Susan Gifford said.
“We have been providing in-person learning to more than 100 students with special needs since Sept. 21 in 10 of our schools and plan to continue with in-person instruction as we believe we meet all personal protection equipment requirements set forth by L&I and other government officials,” Gifford said in an email.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction released a document Wednesday on scenarios schools may face, and information about approaches schools could use in those scenarios, Church said Thursday.
Although L&I contributed to that document, “there are no changes to L&I requirements regarding mask use,” Church said.
“Still, we believe that the information in this document will help districts better understand and meet those requirements,” he said.
A letter also was sent last Friday from L&I director Joel Sacks to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In that letter, which has the subject heading of “no change in face mask requirements in school settings,” Sacks responded to recent media reports about “new” or “clarified” guidance from L&I.
“To be clear, L&I has not issued new guidance or changed any guidance on facial coverings in school settings,” he writes. “L&I does not require all school employees to use N95 masks.”
An N95 mask is considered to be one of the best at filtering airborne particles.
However, he goes on to say that in some high-risk situations, N95 masks are needed.
“Employers determine which employees may be in such situations, and those employees must be medically cleared, then fit tested,” Sacks writes.
That part of the letter about high-risk situations appears to be the determining factor for putting small-group learning on hold at North Thurston, according to Charlie Burleigh, executive director of human resources at North Thurston.
He cited it in an email to The Olympian.
“This did not align with our district plans in some situations and so the decision was made to place small-group instruction on hold while we evaluated and adjusted to this information,” Burleigh said in an email Wednesday.
Sabin said Thursday that the Sept. 25 letter and the OSPI document released Wednesday, which he referred to as “changed guidance,” helped inform the district’s decision to put small-group learning on hold.
Asked if there were any other reasons to put small-group learning hold, he said only that the district continues to have discussions with its labor groups, including teachers, about employee safety.
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 3:01 PM.
