Washington state says it will waive school days missed for COVID-19 closures

In recent days, a handful of Washington schools have decided to temporarily close their doors for deep cleaning in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19, or novel coronavirus.

At this point, there is no evidence that shows children are more vulnerable to the virus that causes COVID-19 compared with the general population, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rather, state officials warn that people over age 60 and those with underlying health conditions are most at risk for a severe infection, though certain populations of kids, such as kids with underlying health conditions, could be at increased risk.

Still, schools, where scores of children and adults have close contact and share supplies and spaces, can play a big role in prevention, according to CDC’s website.

As of Monday, no local health departments in Washington had called for schools to shut down, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said at a press conference. The schools and districts that did closed out of “an abundance of precaution,” said Reykdal.

When district and school officials are making these decisions, they have a lot to consider.

For one, some students rely on school meals for basic nutrition — a factor included among planning considerations in an OSPI bulletin to district and school officials sent Feb. 28.

The agency is waiting on guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Typically, there would be community feeding sites, OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne told The Olympian in a phone interview. That may not be recommended in this situation.

Another factor: equity in alternative learning options. Some students may not have access to technology at home if distance learning is considered.

“For most of you, it will likely make more sense to cancel school and/or district services and make up or waive missed days than to deploy a distance learning model that can be accessed by some, but not all, of your students,” OSPI guidance reads.

Under state law, school districts have to offer 180 school days and make a certain average number of instructional hours available to students, according to OSPI. But the agency can waive those requirements — which are tied to funding — if there’s an emergency district-wide or school closure.

If a school district is required to close or decides to close in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and they make every effort to make up that time, but still fall short of requirements, the agency offered a solution in a bulletin sent to district and school officials Tuesday.

If it’s necessary, OSPI says it will file an emergency rule so it can waive days and instructional hours the districts can’t make up. The agency will likely require schools to extend their years through June 19, and the rule would only apply to the 2019-20 school year unless the state gets guidance otherwise.

“There’s not a situation we can think of where we would deny that waiver,” spokesperson Payne told The Olympian Tuesday.

Districts will need to submit applications for emergency waivers to OSPI, like they do in the case of snow days and other emergency closures, but this year OSPI is developing a web-based application for COVID-19-related school closures.

“Districts should feel confident in knowing that if schools are closed for an extended period of time, they will not be required to make up missed days and instructional hours beyond June 19,” the bulletin reads.

The agency’s guidance on how schools should handle individual students’ absences is less prescriptive. That’s because OSPI has authority over the waivers, but not over student attendance, according to Payne.

Essentially, districts and schools can decide how to handle cases where students hit their maximum number of absences, Payne said.

“I think it’s 100% case-by-case,” she said.

The most recent OSPI bulletin does include that school administrators can excuse absences due to student safety concerns, illnesses, health conditions, or medical appointments, and that state law allows districts to come up with more categories for excused absences as needed.

The truancy process in state law is based on unexcused absences, according to information relayed by Payne from Krissy Johnson, OSPI’s Lead Attendance Program Supervisor. Districts and schools, though, might have policies that limit the number of excused absences a student can have before absences start to be unexcused.

“Please exercise great caution before deciding not to excuse absences related to COVID-19 and starting the truancy process because of them,” it reads.

When asked whether it was a concern that an extended individual absence might interfere with a senior’s graduation plans, Payne said she would imagine that scenario would be rare. Say, if a student was already lagging behind and needed that time they missed to complete make-up work.

In the most recent bulletin, Superintendent Reykdal writes that OSPI expects districts to maintain their graduation timelines.