Puyallup School District students will begin to return to in-person instruction beginning Sept. 28 if Pierce County continues to meet COVID-19 targets set by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and state Department of Health. The phased approach will start with offering a hybrid in-person schedule to the most vulnerable students first:
• Sept. 29: Small groups of self-contained special education students including developmental preschool, secondary McKinney Vento students will return on a reduced schedule which will be communicated directly to families by their schools and teachers.
• Oct. 6: Students in grades K-1 would return to in-person instruction four days a week, with Mondays in a Continuous (Distance) Learning from home model. (Right at School before and after school programs will be available at all elementary schools for students in grades K-1)
• Oct. 13: Students in grades 2-6 would return to a hybrid in-person A/B schedule two days a week—either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, with Mondays in a Continuous (Distance) Learning from home model. (Right at School before and after school programs will be available at all elementary schools for students in grades 2-6)
• No sooner than Nov. 3: Secondary students in junior and senior high schools would return to a hybrid in-person A/B schedule two days a week—either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, with Mondays in a Continuous (Distance) Learning from home model.
Why can kindergarten through first grade students return four days a week?
In his guidance to Pierce County school superintendents on Sept. 4, Dr. Anthony Chen, Director of Health for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department listed reasons for a phased-in return to in-person learning starting with the youngest children. His reasons included:
• Youngest learners are at a critical stage in their development.
• Youngest learners struggle the most with distance learning.
• Younger students appear to have milder disease and transmit COVID-19 less.
As we reopen for Hybrid in-person instruction, parents have the option to keep their child in a full-time Continuous (Distance) Learning 2.0 model. Please review the PSD Reopening Playbook just released and posted on the District website that highlights many of the ways we are modifying operational practices as we reopen in-person instruction in schools to keep staff and students as safe as possible.
We are committed to providing you updates on moving to the hybrid model. If COVID case numbers significantly change, it may impact our phased approach to offer in-person instruction.