Superintendent: In-person learning working in Forks

No confirmed cases of COVID-19 transmission

FORKS — Quillayute Valley School District managed to prevent COVID-19 transmission in its buildings this fall while students were on campus, district Superintendent Diana Reaume told the Quillayute Valley School Board.

The Forks district and Crescent School District in Joyce were among the few in the region to offer in-person instruction prior to the holiday break while the coronavirus pandemic raged on.

“We have had no (COVID-19) transmission,” Reaume told the board on Dec. 21.

Teachers and other staff have provided both remote and in-person schooling for West End learners using COVID-19 safety guidelines. Masks are required and desks are arranged to maintain 6 feet of physical distance.

“Overall, I’m impressed by what we’re doing in Forks,” Reaume said in the virtual school board meeting.

“We’re doing way more than a lot of other schools are capable of doing, probably with the exception of Crescent, which is even smaller.”

Prior to the holiday break, Crescent School District in Joyce was providing in-person schooling four days a week for most students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

Middle and high school students were on a hybrid schedule, splitting time between in-class and remote learning.

Like Quillayute Valley, Crescent had no confirmed cases of COVID-19, Crescent School District Superintendent David Bingham said during a recent campus tour with state Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles.

Forks High School students can attend class between 8:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Elementary and middle school students have longer in-person hours.

Reaume said 531 of the 933 students in the Quillayute Valley School District, or 57 percent, attended classes in person last week.

Local school boards and Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Unthank each have the authority to close schools for COVID-19 precautions.

“My thinking is, as long as we can demonstrate that we’re safe, we need to do as much in person as we can for our kids,” Reaume told the school board.

Quillayute Valley School Board member Mike Reaves said student representatives from other districts had complained about the struggles of online learning.

“It would be good to get some feedback from our kids,” Reaves said.

“You want to hear from staff, too, but the kids, get the feedback from them.”

District officials will meet with students, parents and staff in the coming weeks to “find out what’s working and what’s not working,” Reaume said.

Quillayute Valley School Board Chairman Bill Rohde asked if remote learners were “losing ground” on academics.

Reaume said student success was “all over the map.”

District officials will review testing data on Jan. 6.

“As far as remote learning, some kids are excelling,” Reaume said. “They’re not coming to school, and they like not coming to school.

“But we know from our online learning program that really, truly, 15 to 20 percent of our student population, that’s their mode of learning,” Reaume added.

“We have other kids whose parents do not want them in school, and they’re doing the remote learning and they’re not doing as well.”

Reaume said she and six other superintendents held a virtual meeting Monday with state Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, who chairs the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.

“My initial take is bigger school districts are really struggling to get their doors open for a variety of reasons, not to point fingers,” Reaume said.

“We are lucky that we have the real estate to space out kids and meet the six safety and health standards.”

Reaume said the Quillayute Valley School District would endeavor to provide afternoon classes for high school-aged students.

“I just wanted to shout again for our staff,” Reaume said.

“All of them are reporting for work. They really are doing their best to meet the needs of both in-person and remote, and it’s a challenge.”

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Peninsula College to continue without budget

Board expects plan in September

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane Ridge on Monday. These tourists from Alaska stopped and photographed the creature from a distance as he slowly ate his meal of wildflowers. The marmot is a rodent in the squirrel family and is unique to Washington state. The hibernating mammal’s burrow is only about 50 feet up the paved path away from the parking lot. The group had just photographed deer at the Ridge. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Olympic marmot

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane… Continue reading

Eighth-graders Saydey Cronin and Madelyn Bower stand by a gazebo they and 58 other students helped to build through their Sequim Middle School Core Plus Instruction industrial arts class. The friends were two of a handful of girls to participate in the building classes. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Middle school students build gazebo for academy

Businesses support project with supplies, flooring and tools

Frank Nicholson and David Martel.
Veterans in Warrior Bike program to pass through Peninsula towns

Community asked to welcome, provide lodging this summer

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County Sheriff Brian King, right, accompanied by Lt. Jim Thompson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police on a leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run on the Olympic Discovery Trail at Port Angeles City Pier. Tuesday’s segment of the run, conducted mostly by area law enforcement agencies, was organized to support Special Olympics Washington and was to culminate with a community celebration at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Carrying the torch

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County… Continue reading

Hopefuls for Olympic Medical Center board debate

Talk focuses on funds, partnership

An encapsulated engineered coupler used to repair a January leak. The leak occurred along a similar welded joint near to the current leak. (City of Port Townsend)
Port Townsend considers emergency repair for pipeline

Temporary fix needs longer-term solution, officials say

Traffic to be stopped for new bridge girders

Work crews for the state Department of Transportation will unload… Continue reading

The Peninsula Crisis Response Team responded with two armored vehicles on Tuesday when a 37-year-old Sequim man barricaded himself in a residence in the 200 block of Village Lane in Sequim. (Clallam County Sheriff’s Office)
Man barricaded with rifle arrested

Suspect had fired shots in direction of deputies, sheriff says

An interior view of the 12-passenger, all-electric hydrofoil ferry before it made a demonstration run on Port Townsend Bay on Saturday. Standing in the aisle is David Tyler, the co-founder and managing director of Artemis Technologies, the designer and builder of the carbon fiber boat. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Demonstration provides glimpse of potential for ferry service

Battery-powered hydrofoil could open water travel

Electronic edition of newspaper set for Thursday holiday

Peninsula Daily News will have an electronic edition only… Continue reading

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her mother, Rachel Shidler of Port Angeles, during Saturday’s Summertide celebration in Webster’s Woods sculpture park at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. The event, which marks the beginning of the summer season, featured food, music, crafts and other activities for youths and adults. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Summertide festival

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her… Continue reading