West Valley School Board: Policymakers, it’s time to think of September

By Pam McLeod, Robert Dompier, Dan Hansen, Adam Mortensen and Bob Wentworth

Policymakers, it’s time to think of September.

Recently we joined nearly 200 West Valley High School seniors for a first-of-its-kind graduation ceremony. It was held at Avista Stadium, with families in the stands and students seated in the infield. Each graduate’s name appeared on the Spokane Indians scoreboard as they crossed home plate to collect a diploma.

While the setting was unique, everything else about graduation was familiar and comforting: Heartfelt speeches, emotional parents, and excited graduates who tossed their mortarboards toward a cloudless sky.

If not for the masks and the social distancing, it’d be easy to imagine this was any other year. Because this was a school event, those were required elements for the students, staff and board members seated on the baselines.

As the students exited the field to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” nearly all the masks came off. The graduates were swarmed by friends and families for hugs, high-fives and photos. The school board would not presume to know where they gathered later, or what precautions might – or might not – have been taken.

This is the reality at the end of the 2020-21 school year. Children spent the final week still sitting 3 feet apart, as teachers tried to keep 6 feet distance. Masks are required even for custodians working after hours, or mechanics in the bus garage.

Outside school buildings and events, most folks are going maskless, whether or not they’re vaccinated. Washington, the first state with documented COVID cases and the first to send home students, has set June 30 as the target date to “fully reopen.”

Schools have not been addressed. Maybe decision-makers in Olympia feel that’s one issue they can put off, since school doesn’t resume until September.

Yet, parents are understandably anxious to know how the 2021-22 school will start. Some are looking at remote options to avoid the possibility of COVID restrictions. Others are hesitant to sign up their 5-year-olds for kindergarten until they know how it’s going to look. That, in turn, makes planning difficult for school officials.

So far, all we can tell those parents is that the state says we should plan on masks and social distancing. It’s hard to explain why a busy school would be more of a virus vector than a big wedding, the theatrical release of Disney’s next animated movie, or a Chuck E. Cheese ball pit.

We’ve been told that the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Department of Labor & Industries and Department of Health may adjust the guidance to better reflect the current optimism, and we certainly hope that happens as soon as possible.

As a board, we determined at the start of the pandemic that school districts shouldn’t try to make health decisions. West Valley has followed the guidance of state and local public health professionals to the best of our ability. That hasn’t been popular with everyone, but this was a year of no-popular-choices.

Since students were sent home in March 2020, principals and other administrators have done their best to comfort and calm parents who were understandably frustrated, and sometimes distraught. Teachers and counselors set aside their own concerns as they worked to keep students engaged and tried to coax withdrawn kids from the shadows. Athletic directors, coaches and student athletes adjusted to fractured seasons, and masked performances.

Meanwhile, classified staff struggled to keep everyone safe, fed and connected through technology, even as the definition of “safe” seemed constantly to shift. Now, what’s considered safe is shifting once again. It’s our hope that the new optimism soon will be reflected in education policy.

Submitted by West Valley School Board members: Pam McLeod, president; Robert Dompier; Dan Hansen; Adam Mortensen; and Bob Wentworth.