Mercer Island School District (MISD) students and staff will return to school in-person and full time starting Sept. 1 and 3 and will be required to mask up regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, as mandated by the state.
Students in grades 1-12 are first out of the gate on Sept. 1 and kindergartners will follow on Sept. 3. The youngest learners always return a couple of days after the first wave per the WaKIDS transition process, according to MISD Superintendent Donna Colosky.
In Colosky and Deputy Superintendent Fred Rundle’s Aug. 9 letter to the school community, they wrote that Public Health — Seattle and King County data at that time noted that 92 percent of Mercer Island residents ages 12 and up were fully vaccinated and more than 95 percent of all residents had at least one dose.
“That’s an amazing vaccination rate. The Mercer Island community needs to be really proud of that — that our community has stepped up and gotten that vaccination,” Colosky told the Reporter on Aug. 12.
The only members of the MISD staff and students group who are required to be vaccinated are the district’s healthcare workers — such as nurses and physical and occupational therapists because of their licenses — according to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and governor’s proclamation.
Colosky said that all staffers, students and visitors must wear masks indoors and while riding school buses. The district will be utilizing its own buses this year and will no longer be contracting with King County Metro.
Students may remove masks when they are outdoors or eating and drinking. Colosky said there will be lots of reminders about physical distancing and there will be plenty of hand sanitizers available throughout the school buildings. Other mitigation strategies with Washington State Department of Health (DOH) guidance will include the usage of distanced tables during lunch with clear screens in between students, improved ventilation, cleaning and disinfecting, staying home when sick and seeking evaluation and more.
The Aug. 9 letter adds, “With the highly transmissible Delta variant present in the region, any student, teacher, or staff who reports COVID-19-like symptoms at school will be immediately isolated from others and sent home and referred to diagnostic testing as soon as feasible.”
Colosky said that based on the large in-person and masked summer school turnout, she feels families are excited to have their children return to school five days a week. The superintendent added that people are surely nervous about the Delta variant surge, but the district knows that its layered mitigation strategies are effective.
“We’re able to proudly say that during the entire pandemic, so far we have not had any transmissions that were generated in the school,” Colosky said. “It’s not to say we didn’t have cases of COVID, but every single one of them contact-traced back to outside of the school environment.”
Some parents have been firing emails Colosky’s way stating their concerns about their children attending school in-person as Delta variant cases continue to rise. Parents are asking if their children can start the year online and then transition to in-person when they feel comfortable.
Colosky said there is no MI-Online remote or hybrid plan like last year on the docket for the fall.
“We surveyed our parents back in the spring to see what the interest was to enroll in MI-Online, and there was not enough interest in the kindergarten through fifth grade to really allow us to assign staffing to the MI-Online program, so we do not have that in place,” said Colosky, adding that OSPI has been clear about stating that this fall’s schedule involves in-person learning.
One email noted that the Lake Washington and Bellevue school districts are offering an online learning program for students who can’t attend school in-person due to personal or family health concerns.
Colosky noted that’s correct, “but they’re also four, five, six times larger than little Mercer Island,” adding that it would take a huge staffing lift for the MISD that isn’t viable.
At its recent leadership team retreat at Mercer Island High School, a host of principals, assistant principals and directors met in-person and focused their discussions on strategies to meet the needs of students and staff. Colosky said that a return to full-time, face-to-face contact and relationship building between staff and students is essential to the overall learning process.
Athletics and performing arts
On the athletics front, teams will return to full seasons this fall and Colosky said that some squads are already holding training sessions.
According to a robust and intricate DOH update on Aug. 11, masks are required in weight rooms; for all coaches, athletic trainers and other support personnel indoors in K-12 settings; and for all spectators attending indoor K-12 sporting activities. All of these scenarios apply regardless of one’s vaccination status.
Masks are not required for athletes while competing in low-contact or moderate-contact sports indoors regardless of vaccination status; for fully vaccinated athletes competing in high-contact indoor sports; and for unvaccinated athletes competing in high-contact indoor sports if they participate in screening testing.
In the outdoor sports scenario, masks are not required at any contact level, but are recommended when unvaccinated athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and/or support personnel are in close proximity.
Fully vaccinated cheerleaders are not required to wear masks when practicing, performing or competing, and unvaccinated cheerleaders don’t have to wear masks when practicing, performing or competing if they participate in screening testing.
In the performing arts realm, marching band members may remove their masks while playing outdoors and stand at a recommended three feet apart. Instrument-wise, coverage of the bell portion of performers’ brass and woodwind instruments is required indoors and recommended — but not required — outdoors. Indoors, singers, woodwinds and brass, speech/debate and theater performers are required to wear masks, but woodwinds and brass performers may remove their masks when performing.
For a full rundown of DOH guidance, visit https://tinyurl.com/zsyt27dh
