PSD readies a reopening plan when numbers fall
By Terry Murry on Friday, January 22nd, 2021 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Oregon Department of Education’s new school opening guidance is out, but Pendleton School Superintendent Chris Fritsch said that it doesn’t mean much, since Umatilla County’s COVID-19 numbers remain so high. Fritsch said the district has a tentative plan when those numbers go down.
“We’re going to start with the younger grades, probably kindergarten and first and second grade,” he said. “We’re going to transition students back into school starting with half days.”
Fritsch said once the cases per 100,000 decline, it won’t take very long before schools are operating normally.
“We can slowly transition within a month to full day for all of our kids,” he said. “Of course we can’t even have those conversations until we can get our local and county numbers down.”
