On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern. On January 31, 2020, the federal Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency for the United States. On February 29, 2020, Governor Inslee declared a state of emergency in all counties of Washington and directed state agencies to take all reasonable measures to assist affected local governments to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.
On March 13, 2020, Governor Inslee announced the closure of all public and private kindergarten through grade 12 school facilities in the state until April 24, 2020. The closure directive was subsequently extended through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Although school facilities were closed to in-person instruction during the final months of the school year, the provision of education remained mandatory and was provided through the implementation of remote instruction practices.
With few exceptions, school districts in Washington began the 2020-21 school year with the continuation and modification of remote instruction delivery practices that were employed in the prior school year.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) tracks school reopening data for the state. According to the OSPI survey data from the week of January 18, 2021, 22 percent of public school students received in-person instruction at any point during the week. The OSPI survey for the same week also indicated that 38 of 295 school districts were providing traditional, in-person instruction to all district students.
Of the recently surveyed school districts that are targeting small groups for in-person instruction, students with disabilities and students who are English language learners are the most commonly served students.
School districts that have discontinued the provision of in-person instruction to all or most students in response to an emergency must, when resuming in-person instruction through a phased, hybrid, or otherwise noncomprehensive process, prioritize the offering and delivery of in-person instruction to the following:
A student who is offered a return to in-person may, at the discretion of the student or the student's parent or guardian, continue remote instruction until the school district resumes in-person instruction for all students. Provisions allowing the elective continuation of remote instruction do not apply to students in a juvenile rehabilitation facility or other facility providing education services to students in an institutional setting.
"Emergency" is defined through an existing statute to mean an event or set of circumstances that: demands immediate action to preserve public health, protect life, protect public property, or to provide relief to any stricken community overtaken by such occurrences; or reaches such a dimension or degree of destructiveness as to warrant the Governor proclaiming a state of emergency. Emergency may also include a national declaration of emergency by an authorized federal official.
The substitute bill makes the following changes to the original bill:
(In support) A 12-year old family member with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and a 504 plan does not engage in remote schooling, but the school district is not letting the student return to in-person instruction. Family members are providing instruction to the student, but in-person instruction at the school is limited to one hour per week.
Many foster kids are not enrolled in school, or if they are, they are not participating in remote instruction. The bill does not include students with individualized education programs (IEPs), but an amendment is being drafted to add those students to the prioritized list.
Students with IEPs and students who are English language learners should be added to the list of prioritized students. This bill speaks to the reality that some students are farther from educational justice than others. Education services to students with IEPs vary significantly, but these students have significant barriers to success.
(Opposed) None.
(Other) An amendment that includes students with IEPs and students who are English language learners should be offered. Serving students with disabilities is critical.
Students are struggling with online learning, including high rates of disconnection. School districts should, when returning to in-person instruction, prioritize students in foster care, provided it is safe to do so. All students should return to classrooms as soon as it is safe to do so.
School districts need to consider which students should return first. Lists can be valuable in prioritizing the return of students, but it is possible to inadvertently exclude students, so mandating a list may be problematic. Facility issues can also impact the ability of schools to safely resume in-person education.
School districts should prioritize in-person instruction for the students who need support. The opt-in provisions in the bill should be strengthened to specify that students may decline an offer to return to in-person instruction. Students in institutional education facilities should be added to the prioritized list.