Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Washoe schools deal with more than just virus
Fires add worries over air healthfulness to mix
The Washoe County School District is experiencing a bumpy in-person start to the school year, with 44 COVID-19 cases reported in the first month among staffers and students and air quality concerns because of smoke from nearby wildfires frequently forcing a return to distance learning.
The Reno-area school district, which has about 62,000 students and 8,000 employees, began its new school year Aug. 18 with full-time on-campus instruction at elementary schools and a hybrid model for middle and high schools, where cohorts of students alternate between attending classes in person and doing lessons via distance learning. About one-third of students opted to enroll in full distance learning.
This summer, the School Board approved reopening with in-person instruction, in contravention of a Washoe County Health District recommendation to pursue distance learning.
The much bigger Clark County School District, with about 307,210 students and 42,000 employees, elected to depend solely on distance learning when it reopened Aug. 24, with the exception of seven campuses in rural areas that are offering either full-time in-person classes or a hybrid format.
Reopening debate
Arguments in favor of opening for in-person instruction included one that it was the least disruptive option for working families and another that doing so would meet students’ academic, social and emotional needs.
Concerns included whether state funding, staffing levels and school building space would allow for implementation of the plan, and whether there would still be active COVID-19 cases in Washoe County and no vaccine when school started.
Washoe County schools Super
intendent Kristen McNeill said in a Friday conference call that there have been 44 cases, 27 among students and 17 among adults, affecting 28 schools so far this school year.
“Please remember that many of these cases have already been cleared and are no longer affecting the particular school,” McNeill said.
The district’s website reports that 12 student cases and five adult cases are listed as “active.”
But the confirmed cases tell only part of the story. On any given day, between 800 and 1,000 Washoe County students, or about 2 percent of the approximately 41,000 students doing in-person or hybrid learning, are marked as absent under an “excluded” attendance code, McNeill told reporters during a Sept. 11 call.
There are multiple reasons for exclusion, including potential exposure to the virus at school or exhibition of COVID-19-like symptoms. Excluded students are switched to distance learning until they’re cleared to return in person.
As of Friday, 282 people have been excluded from school under direction from the Washoe County Health District. The designation refers to “individuals who have had close contact with another individual with a confirmed COVID diagnosis,” according to the school district’s web
site. “These exclusions are a critical cautionary measure to minimize the potential spread of the virus.”
McNeill acknowledged the difficulty of having students in different learning environments, which she compared to having “three separate mini school districts.” She said teachers, students and administrators were working through issues with distance learning.
But despite the challenges, she believes that the reopening has been successful, she told reporters.
Public recriminations
Some teachers hold a different view.
Dozens protested last month outside Spanish Springs High School in Sparks over the reopening with in-person classes, which they said put their health at risk.
Teachers also have showed up at School Board meetings to voice their frustration.
“We are skydiving while you are still deciding which parachute to pack for us,” teacher Roger Ports said at a Sept. 8 meeting, adding that the district can’t come up with a plan for deciding when to close schools because of outbreaks.
During that meeting, trustees approved use of a threat meter developed by a regional COVID-19 task force to guide future decisions on whether to keep schools open with in-person instruction.
If the meter reads “very high” for up to seven days, trustees may “consider action to change the learning model based on risk, case incidents in schools, adequacy of staffing levels and other applicable factors,” according to online meeting materials.
Washoe County Health District spokesman Scott Oxarart declined to comment on the COVID-19 cases among students and staffers or the board’s decision to reopen for in-person teaching, referring inquiries to the school district.
As of Friday, Washoe County had reported 8,461 coronavirus cases and 153 deaths. Clark County, meanwhile, had recorded 63,603 COVID-19 cases and 1,325 deaths from the virus as of Friday.
CCSD has reported 191 adult cases of COVID-19 and 38 student cases since March. At least one CCSD employee, Desert Pines High School cafeteria manager Ronaldo Cesa, died this spring after contracting COVID-19.
Added woes
The occurrence of COVID-19 cases isn’t the only headache Washoe administrators have been facing. Some parents also are angry about the travails of distance learning.
Reno parent Cassandra Miller told the Review-Journal that the beginning of the school year has been “ridiculous.” Among other things, she said, her 13-year-old son, an eighth grader, keeps getting marked absent during his distance learning days, even though he has been logged on.
There also have been instances in which he turned in an assignment but had it listed as missing, she said.
In addition to the complexities of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washoe School District has faced another challenge: smokefilled air caused by fires burning across the West.
The district has held eight days of distance learning because of poor air quality, McNeill said Friday.