Lynden Christian: ‘We will get through this and back to in-person Christian education’
A “high number” of COVID-19 cases at Lynden Christian forced the school to close in-person classes on Wednesday, Sept. 29, and return to remote learning, according to a release from the school Thursday, Sept. 30.
Though the release did not state how many cases had been reported at the school, it reported that there had been “no serious cases in the school.”
“We are deeply concerned about the number of cases within the school,” the release states. “The health and well-being of our students, their families, our staff, and our community is of great concern.
“For that reason, we voluntarily followed the likely order of the Whatcom County Health Department to close our school for in-person instruction for the next two weeks.”
According to the high school daily bulletin on Lynden Christian’s website, which was updated Thursday, the school hopes to return to campus on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
The bulletin instructed students to check into class every morning for information and updates about assignments and told students who need to pick up items at the high school to check-in individually at the front door between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. It also stated that students’ online work will be graded and recorded as usual and that teachers many require students to participate in Zoom meetings or complete timed assessments during the regular hours the class would be held.
Links to the middle school and elementary bulletins were not functioning as of Thursday afternoon.
“It is unfortunate that we are at this point, but together as a school community, we will get through this and back to in-person Christian education,” Thursday’s release stated.
An email was sent to parents on Tuesday, informing them that classes would be canceled on Wednesday and that remote learning would begin on Thursday. The website Whatcom News first reported the decision and The Bellingham Herald obtained a screenshot of the email.
Lynden Christian’s school board received a notice from the Whatcom County Health Department that it intended to close the schools and that the school board voted to start remote learning as a way to avoid a forced closure.
“While we are very disappointed with this outcome, we wanted to get this out as soon as possible,” the school’s email stated.
In a Whatcom County Health Department news release, the health department said it agreed with Lynden Christian Schools’ decision to close in-person instruction for 14 days and it was necessary to protect the public’s health.
“The temporary closure of Lynden Christian Schools is an unfortunate but necessary step to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the school environment and prevent further risk to the whole community,” said Dr. Amy Harley, co-health officer for Whatcom County, in the release. “We support the school board’s decision to temporarily close in-person instruction and extracurricular activities in order to quickly curtail the current outbreak so that the school can reopen for in-person learning when it’s safe to do so.”
The health department determined that the school had “multiple cases and/or exposures in nearly every grade and classroom and several classrooms and grades that met the health department’s operating definition of a school-associated outbreak,” according to the news release.
The closing of the campus was something health officers are reluctant to do and only done when other measures have failed to stop the spread of infection, said Dr. Greg Thompson, co-health officer for Whatcom County.
“We want students to be in school, learning safely with their peers. In-person learning has numerous health benefits for children and youth. That’s why schools and public health agencies worked hard to develop standards for schools to safely operate in-person even in the midst of widespread community transmission of COVID-19,” Thompson said in the news release.
“But in order for in-person learning to work — not only for students but also for their families and neighbors in the broader community — schools need to adhere to the legally required standards set for masking, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, and other COVID-19 mitigation measures which have been proven effective in preventing spread of COVID-19 in schools.”
Lynden Christian Schools has elementary, middle and high school buildings on its campus offering classes from preschool through 12th grade. It has around 1,200 students, according to the website elementaryschools.org.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 3:22 PM.
