South Thurston Schools Close Through April 24

Tenino and Rochester school districts announced Friday they would close through April 24 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, starting Monday. 

“As you know, we are facing an unprecedented public health crisis in our state and world. 

We have kept our schools open as long as possible, as recommended by state and local public health authorities. We know that in addition to education, schools provide vital support to our communities and that closure will have a major impact on our families,” Tenino Superintendent Joe Belmonte wrote in a letter to students and families posted on social media. 

Belmonte reported that Thurston County school superintendents met and agreed on a “unified approach” to school closures. 

“We recognize that this disruption in our normal school year has an impact on our students, our families and our staff. Thank you for your support and patience as we work together as a community to focus on public health,” Belmonte wrote.

The Rochester School District confirmed it would also close through April 24.

W.F. West High School closed on Friday, March 13 for a deep cleaning day, the district said was based on advice from Lewis County Public Health and Social Services, after getting word that a staff member at the high school has an “unsubstantiated respiratory illness.”

“They decided to just have everybody out of the building so they could really clean and do a good thorough job and we got that advice from the health department. We are thinking that it’s just better safe than sorry,” said Debby Gregory, the Chehalis School District’s communications officer.

The Chehalis School District has postponed a 6 through 12th-grade strings concert, originally scheduled for March 13, until further notice. However, on Friday, the sixth-grade strings group gave a live-streamed performance via social media. 

The Chehalis School District stated in a letter addressed to staff and families that field trips, special events, sporting events and other after-school activities will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Gregory said that the Chehalis School District has not canceled or postponed any sports events but other schools that were scheduled to host Chehalis have canceled games.

At Centralia College, Director of College Relations Amanda Haines said the college is operating as usual except for increased cleaning, and has not made any plans to switch over to online classes at this time.

“We are increasing our cleaning of the high traffic areas, doorknobs, stairways, all of those things. Every day we are communicating an update to the community just outlining all of the things that the health department has recommended,” said Haines.

Haines said that Centralia College officials have had several meetings discussing what they would do if the coronavirus situation gets worse but no decisions have been made at this time.

Superintendent of Oakville School District Rich Staley spoke about the current situation at the Oakville School District. 

“Right now we are just watching to see what happens at the state and the department of health level. We are being cautious but beyond that, we are going to do business as usual until we are told we are not supposed to,” said Staley. “We are holding out hope but we have a contingency plan in place.”

According to the Centralia School District’s website, the district is still operating on a normal school day schedule, however, many after school activities and events have been postponed — kindergarten and third-grade musicals at Fords Prairie Elementary School, a Centralia High School band concert, the SWWMEA MS North Band Festival, middle school family engagement night, and the Cispus spaghetti feed.

“We want you to know that our district is working with local, state and national health agencies on prevention and district management in the event of an outbreak in our community. Our district follows local, state, and national health care expert guidance and recommendations,” stated a post on the Centralia School District’s website.

Governor Jay Inslee held a press conference on Thursday afternoon in Olympia addressing COVID-19.

“We cannot hide from the central truth of this moment, COVID-19 is at least ten times more dangerous than the flu and anything less than strong action amongst all of us is not appropriate or up to the task that we face at this moment as a state,” said Inslee.

Napavine school district announced it would postpone sports events in the next week, but has not announced school closures. 

At the press conference, Inslee announced that he is ordering the closure of all schools in Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. He said the first possible weekday that students can go back to school is April 27.

“This six-week closure is not a decision made lightly. … We have reached a tipping point where the spread of this virus demands that we take action. We are seeing the number of cases in the Puget Sound area increase significantly just in this past week,” Inslee said.

Inslee said that according to health professionals closing schools could create a significant cut to the total number of infections and will help slow the transmission of the virus. He also said that he has asked superintendents to provide childcare during the closures at no cost to families who are in the medical field or are first responders. 

The school closures in the three counties affect 43 districts and 600,000 students, stated a press release from the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA).

“It has been inspiring to observe and work with superintendents and school leaders the past three weeks, especially those in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, who are literally at the epicenter of this pandemic,” said Executive Director of WASA Joel Aune. “Their leadership, courage, and character have been on full display.  Superintendents have been under an immense amount of pressure during this time, but have held steady in their commitment to children, young people, and families.”