COVID-19 cases spread; several of the elementary schools have reopened after week-long closure
Individual classes at 10 elementary schools in the Kent School District were closed as of the end of last week because of COVID-19.
According to the district's COVID-19 dashboard, classes in several schools reopened on January 24, while others reopened by January 31, depending on the timing of the closures.
This is by far the most closed class during a week in the district during the 2021-2022 school year.
Apart from separate classes in 10 schools, the district last week completely shut down Pine Tree Elementary due to multiple COVID-19 cases. It was the first and so far the only school to close completely due to the pandemic this school year.
Some schools had two or three classes closed as the Omicron version spreads across King County, the state, and the nation.
Elementary schools with closed classrooms include Cedar Valley, Daniel's, Fairwood, Horizon, Meridian, Panther Lake, Ridgewood, Springbrook, Sawyer Woods and Sous Creek.
There are 42 schools in the district including 29 primary schools.
During the shutdown students switched to distance learning. District-wise, each school contacted all affected families of closed classes.
The district authorities did not give any specific details about the grade of the closed class or the number of positive cases to protect the privacy of the student.
The district announced its plan in early January to continue in-person learning in schools unless it has staff and doesn't have too many COVID-19 cases.
District Public Health - After consultation with Seattle and King County considers the following policy for classroom closures:
• Three or more students or staff in the same room/area test positive for COVID-19
• Cases have symptoms that start within 14 days of each other
• Cases are not associated with each other in other settings (household, club, etc.).
If an entire classroom is required to be quarantined or a school has been instructed to close temporarily in response to COVID-19 transmission:
• Staff and families will be notified of class closure by phone, letter and/or email
• Students will shift to a 100% remote model to be used during the 2020-21 school year
• Schedules will reflect the current 2021-22 individual schedules
• Teachers will have two days to transition to synchronous remote learning, and will begin fully online learning by day 3 for affected classes.
• Class shutdown will usually last for 5-10 days