Do you have questions about COVID-19 and Dieringer School District’s plans? Email the school district at covid_info@dieringer.wednet.edu.
The November 2nd start to hybrid in-person learning has been delayed.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s guidance to schools has stated that we are clearly back into a high transmission phase of the virus with cases over 75 per 100,000 people. This increase in COVID-19 case counts in the county puts the Dieringer School District in an unpredictable situation for determining the exact dates of when to safely begin hybrid learning. After careful consideration, based on the health department's guidance, the state department of health’s decision tree for K-12 schools, and consultation with the District’s board of directors, parent leaders, community members, and leadership, we are going to delay the transition to hybrid in-person learning. At this time, we’re looking to start hybrid learning for elementary students as soon as it is safe and case rates in our county drop. Middle school students will hopefully start three weeks after elementary students return, provided case rates stay low.
The Dieringer School District is committed to maintaining learning environments that protect the health and safety of our students, educators, and staff. The district needs to be ready to adjust our plans based on the changing health conditions and risk factors within our community. Like many states around the country, we have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases in Washington. For students, families and staff at higher risk for severe illness from the COVID-19 virus, this uncertainty is especially concerning.
All of us look forward to eventually returning to “pre-covid” school operations after the virus has been defeated. In June our state issued guidance for schools to follow in planning to reopen school campuses this fall. Updates to this state guidance continued over the summer and the governor has just released a decision tree to help school determine when distance learning is best and when it should be safe to resume in person learning.
This plan meets the required reopening plan expectation from the state and details many areas where the staff and students of the Dieringer School District will keep people safe and provide the best learning possible in whatever learning model we find ourselves using. This document was developed using state and local guidance from The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Washington State and Tacoma-Pierce County Departments of Health, along with input from our parents and staff.
We know the situation we find ourselves in locally, nationally, and around the world is not where we want to be right now. If we work together for the common good we will beat this outbreak and be back in school, dining out, hosting friends and family, and packing local stadia rooting on our favorite team. In the meantime, we are dedicated to making the best of a bad situation for our children.