November 28, 2020
Dear WHWS Community,
Like many of you, the School’s leadership and Health and Safety team has been monitoring the recent sharp rise of Covid 19 cases in Whatcom County. We understand that the current case trend is worrisome, and we appreciate everyone who has reached out to us from the community to share their concerns as well as support. In light of the increase in cases, our Health and Safety team has been considering how to respond as a school. They are closely supported by health care professionals within our community, as well as Kim Hankinson, the Whatcom County Public Health Nurse Liaison for our school. Following their clear guidance and after careful consideration, last night the Board accepted the recommendation to continue with our current educational model of partial in-person classroom learning for all grades.
There is growing support that suggests that with mitigations in place, schools are not significant drivers of COVID-19 transmission rate increases. As a result of this new data, the Decision Tree that was released in the fall to assist schools is currently being revised with significant increases in community rate transmission thresholds. The decision to open or close schools is made by State Superintendents and School Boards. Every school makes their own decision in consultation with the DOH. Likewise, the DOH evaluates our local situation and provides an opinion and recommendations as needed.
At WHWS, we have small cohorts, and our rigorous mitigation efforts go beyond recommendations from the WA Department of Health and OSPI. We have opened up our campus slowly with a conservative approach, which has allowed us the time to be more certain of our safety protocols and procedures. Not only are we able to screen all students daily, provide learning spaces with physical distancing, have clear mask protocols and encourage hand hygiene as a priority, we also provide HEPA filters with UV lights for every classroom, have enhanced our furnaces to further improve air quality, and have thorough disinfecting and cleaning regimens in place.
You may be aware that the Whatcom County Health Officer, Greg Stern, recently recommended that schools continue with their current in-person learning schedules but move middle and high school students to online learning. You can view his most recent recommendations with this link. He states, "Due to the current level and trajectory of COVID-19 transmission, I now highly recommend distance learning in all Whatcom County private and public high school and middle schools, rolling back at those schools that have phased in such instruction no later than 12/4/20." He also stated, “Transmission of viruses by the older students is similar to adults and their class schedules are not conducive to limiting the number of other students and teachers with which they have contact.” It is important to note that this recommendation assumes middle school students mix student cohorts and locations for several separate classes during the day. This model, that WHWS does not share, presents a containment issue for a potential virus exposure, and makes contact tracing especially challenging.
After reading the latest recommendation from Dr. Stern, we contacted our Whatcom County Health Department liaison and received encouragement to continue our in-person plan for all grades classes, the reasons being twofold. At WHWS, the mitigations we have in place greatly reduce the likelihood of a student contracting or spreading the virus, and our 6-8 grades do not operate like a typical middle school. Our students do not transition from one classroom to another, but stay with the same teachers and cohort of students for the duration the class is in session.
We will continue to monitor the county COVID-19 case trends closely and remain in close contact with the Department of Health through our nurse liaison. If at any point, we are given the recommendation to transition away from in person learning and move to a distance learning model, we will take action and notify you immediately.
We recognise that due to illness or quarantine situations, students may need to be absent from classrooms more frequently than usual. In such cases, class teachers will be working with parents to provide remote lessons to support students in continuing with their school work at home.
We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to our campus on Monday morning. We are grateful for our community, and your support and patience through these challenging times.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions.
Sincerely,
Kathy Payne
Administrative Director
Tom Cahill
Board President
Emma Zook and Jamie Sanday
Pedagogical Co -Chairs
Jordan Fleming
Health & Safety Coordinator
