Return to Daily*

In-Person Learning for

Middle and High Schools
Criteria Review – February 9, 2021

Presented by Bret Heller,

Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
 Thank You to the Committee

• Parents (Middle and High School)

• Teachers (Middle and High School)
• Building Principals (Middle and High School)
• School Nurses (Middle and High School)
• District Administrators
• Local Health Experts
• Trustees
 Committee Norms
• Start and end on time
• Operate this meeting in a safe • Expect to clarify, expect
environment disagreement, expect to be
• Listen in a respectful manner questioned; but expect those things
• Assume the best of intentions to be done respectfully
• Use our time efficiently • Don’t take it personal

• Compromise • Working toward the will of the group

• Data will drive our decisions • No sabotage
• Everyone has a voice….respect
each other
Criteria from Committee as of January 28
1. All West Ada School District staff have been given the
opportunity to receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and
the additional two-weeks after the second dose to reach peak
immune response.

Additionally, middle/high schools must meet

one of the two criteria below:
1.Middle/high schools in WASD have a case count below 15 cases per
100,000 for two consecutive weeks.
2.Middle/high schools in WASD have a student/staff percent positive
below 2% for two consecutive weeks.
 Executive Team Changes

• The school district’s executive team met on Monday,

February 1 to review the criteria and removed the following
criteria:
• Middle/high schools in the WASD have a case count below 15 cases
per 100,000 for two consecutive weeks.

• Rationale for this change is due to a redundancy with the two

criteria; if a school is at or above the 2% positive rate, they will
also be over the 15 cases per 100K.
FINAL CRITERIA FOR TRUSTEES CONSIDERATION
West Ada School District will return
students in grades 6-12 to daily*
in-person learning once the
following criteria have been met:
1. All West Ada School District staff have been given the
opportunity to receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine
and the additional 2-weeks after the second dose to reach
peak immune response.

2.Student/Staff percent positive below 2% for two consecutive

weeks.*

*Student/staff percent positive calculated by looking at each school’s student/staff

positive case counts divided by total student/staff enrollment.

*Case counts reflect positive cases that were infectious while in attendance at
school or school-based activity.
Based on criterion #1, and
• the current rate of vaccine doses being made available,
• the 28 days needed between dose #1 and dose #2,
• and the necessary two-weeks after the second dose
needed to reach peak immune response,
• the district would return students in grades 6-12 to daily*
in-person learning, no sooner than the start of fourth
quarter:
• High School – Friday, April 9
• Middle School – Tuesday, April 13
 Vaccination Timeline
• Appointments for vaccinations became available to WASD
staff on January 16.
• Based on the doses available and appointment capacity; Primary
Health indicated they could handle vaccinating all staff with dose #1
within four weeks (by February 13).
• This essentially starts the 28-day “clock” between doses #1 and #2 on
February 13.
• By March 13, all staff would have had the opportunity to receive both
doses of the vaccine.
• With the necessary two-weeks after dose #2 to achieve peak immune
response, the earliest WASD could return to school based on the criterion
of opportunity to receive vaccine protection would be March 29 after spring
break.
 Timeline of Return

March 29 through April 9 are the final two-weeks of third quarter.

In order to best facilitate the transition for teachers and students, to

open an opportunity for any families to consider a transfer to the
Virtual School House, the committee felt that the start of fourth
quarter was the most appropriate date to return.
 2% Positive Rationale
• 2% Positive Case Rate (over 14 days) in a school is the
threshold where contact tracing becomes unsustainable, and
potentially a building would lose the ability to accurately trace
close contacts.
• CDH has set their threshold for contact tracing at 5% positive
case rate in community at large.
• For WASD, the primary individuals doing the contact tracing
(assistant principals, principals, nurses) are doing that work on
top of the typical duties that they all have within the school; thus,
our contact tracing threshold is lower than that of the local health
district.
 Expectations
• All middle schools will need to meetwith Return
the criteria and return to daily
in-person learning at the same time.
• All high schools will need to meet the criteria and return to daily in-
person learning at the same time.
• *Monday will continue to function as a remote learning day, in-
person learning would occur on Tuesday-Friday.
• Mask requirement will remain in-place at minimum through the end
of the 2020-2021 school year.
• Focus on mitigating measures will continue (hand hygiene,
sanitizing and continuing to facilitate as much physical distancing
as possible).
• 6 feet of physical distancing will not occur when all students are back in
the building.
 Expectations with Return

• Expectation that all teachers at middle school and high school can
deliver fully synchronous learning to students on
quarantine/isolation.

• If any middle school or high school needs to transition to full

remote learning due to positive cases, clusters, or outbreaks in
the 2 weeks prior to fourth quarter; the district executive team will
evaluate whether the situation would necessitate a delay to
returning to full, in-person learning.
 Once Daily In-Person Resumes
• District will continue to utilize the processes outlined in the
Pandemic Operations Plan regarding decisions to transition a
classroom/program/school to remote learning

• Those decisions will continue to be made on a school by school

and case by case basis
 Remote Monday
The committee felt strongly that we should maintain the Remote
Monday schedule for the following reasons:

1. There will still be large numbers of students who need to quarantine due
to contact tracing and giving teachers the opportunity for additional prep
and planning for their students on quarantine will be helpful to ensure
learning can continue to move forward for those students.

2. Monday as a Remote Day has helped significantly in our contact tracing

work.
• Monday is often the heaviest day of the week in terms of being informed of new
positive cases.
• We are able on Monday to notify any close contacts from the previous week and
quarantine them before they return to campus on Tuesday.
 Difference in Start Dates
for High School/Middle School
• Thursday, April 8 is the last day of third quarter for all students
on a traditional calendar.

• Friday, April 9 is an in-service/teacher workday for grades K-8.

• High school’s fourth quarter begins on Friday, April 9.

• Monday, April 12 is a Remote Learning Day

• Middle school students would return to daily, in-person
learning on Tuesday, April 13.
Operational Benefits to 4th Quarter Return
• Continue to work toward hiring employees:
• School Nutrition
• Special Education – Paraprofessionals
• Bus Drivers
• Custodial/Maintenance
• Substitute Teachers
• Continue to Monitor COVID-19 virus activity in our schools
• Including the activity of variant strands of the virus.
• Allow time to transition students to Virtual School House
 Virtual School House

If the Criteria are approved tonight:

• From February 10 to March 19, Virtual School House will open a

new declaration period for students to request a transfer to
Virtual School House for fourth quarter.

• Additionally, during this period, students will have the opportunity

to request transfer from Virtual School House to their traditional,
brick and mortar school at fourth quarter.
Questions?