KSD back to hybrid schedule

KELLOGG — It's not full-time in-person, but its something.

Kellogg School District Superintendent Nancy Larsen announced on Wednesday that all schools within the district would be returning to their hybrid in-person/online schedule starting on Jan. 4.

In this schedule, high school and middle school students will utilize their designated Purple/Gold days with Wednesday being an office hours/remote learning day. Elementary schools will be in session four days a week with Wednesday being a remote learning day.

"Because schools have been on break, it is not possible to get accurate numbers to help make a continued closure decision," Larsen said. "Therefore, we will monitor each school on a daily basis to determine attendance rates and make future decisions about attendance. We will notify our families and patrons if changes need to be made."

Before winter break began on Dec. 21, the district had sent Kellogg High School to an online only schedule and completely shut down Canyon Elementary due to COVID-related student and staff absences, respectively.

In pre-COVID times, the Panhandle Health District would have a recommendation to close school if the student absentee percentage hit a certain mark. Now though, that isn't exactly the case.

Larsen believes that KSD has been doing their best to prevent the spread of the virus by committing to wearing masks, social distancing when possible, conducting enhanced cleanings and performing contact tracing.

"We will continue to be diligent with these precautions and will constantly re-evaluate our school plans," she added. "Thank you to our staff, students, parents and community members for supporting us and fighting to keep kids in school by taking the same precautions to prevent the spread of the virus."