Hoquiam High School students will be learning remotely until the end of spring break. District Superintendent Mike Villarreal explains that they have been phasing in classes and alternating grades.

“We started about a month ago phasing in different grade levels. We’re going a solid 4 days a week with kids Monday through Thursday,” said Villarreal. Every day, students are either in track A track B, an AM or a PM group. Explained Villarreal, “Essentially for about 2.5 hours in the morning and about 2.5 hours in the afternoon, with virtual learning on the opposite end of your day.”

“We now have K-8 on this schedule, we’ve had some kids coming into the High School, but our High School will not come back until after spring break,” said Villarreal. The high school will remain quiet until students return from their week-long break between quarters. He added, “That’s been very intentional, we’re waiting until the fourth quarter begins.”

The school finishes its third quarter on Friday, April 2. With spring break the following week, students would return on April 12.

“The heroes to opening school (are) the classified staff. There is no way we could open up the school district without them.” Villarreal said he could be speaking for any district right now, adding, “because there’s requirements to keep (school) open, keep it clean, because you’re bringing in groups of kids, every classroom has to be cleaned, and between every group.”

The schedule requires a lot more cleaning, and the buses are running considerably more, but Villarreal says they organized the families into groups for the most efficient use of their time. The buses are running with open windows and kids safely spaced out in their seating. Sack lunches are handed out as the kids are leaving, which avoids scheduling lunchroom time and space.

“With our phasing in, I think the benefit to our schedule is that you get to see a teacher every day for a little bit – rather than just twice a week, you get to see them every day.” said Villarreal. This model can also be rolled back to an all-virtual learning model should the county’s COVID-19 numbers rise and restrictions be put in place.