FORKS — One of the first school districts on the North Olympic Peninsula to offer in-person classes during COVID-19 will prepare a pandemic recovery plan to engage students who are still learning at home.
Diana Reaume, Quillayute Valley School District superintendent, said online surveys will be issued to all sixth- through 12th-grade students in the coming weeks to measure social and emotional progress after months of remote instruction.
The survey will inform a COVID-19 recovery plan that will be adopted by the school board and submitted to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction by June 1.
“We’ll start working on that here pretty rigorously,” Reaume said in a virtual school board meeting Monday.
“What they want to know is how we’re going to reengage students if they’ve not been in the school.”
A separate survey will be issued to elementary-aged students to gauge academic, behavioral, social and emotional progress, Reaume said in a later interview.
Quillayute Valley and other school districts are now open for in-person classes with hybrid schedules. Students still have the option of taking all of their classes online.
In Forks, brick-and-mortar schooling is available Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesday is a remote-learning day.
Quillayute Valley officials were working with teacher and para-educator unions on ways to provide in-person learning on Wednesdays while maintaining COVID-19 protocols such as 6 feet of physical distancing, Reaume said.
Quillayute Valley and Crescent School District in Joyce were the first in the region to offer in-person classes at the height of the pandemic last December.
About 88 percent of Forks Elementary School students had returned to in-person learning as of Monday, school Principal Matthew Holshouser told the board.
“At the middle school, it’s about 77 percent,” Reaume said.
“They’re getting more kids back every week, and actually they’re almost to a point where they’re at full capacity.”
Class sizes have been reduced to provide extra space for students, who are still required to wear masks.
Forks High School had been averaging 33 to 40 percent attendance on campus, which was “pretty typical” of high schools, Reaume said.
“The older the students get, the more they can do, in theory, on their own,” Reaume told the school board.
Meanwhile, Clallam and Jefferson counties lead the state in the percentage of people older than 65 who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Teachers are encouraged to be vaccinated, but the district cannot require inoculations for staff.
Later in the meeting, Quillayute Valley School Board members Ron Hurn, Kevin Hinchen and Mike Reaves voted unanimously to extend Reaume’s contract for three years. Board members Bill Rohde and Val James Giles were absent Monday.
“I guess you’re stuck with us for a few more years, Diana,” said Hurn, vice chairman. “Nice job.”
Reaume has been superintendent at Quillayute Valley School District for 15 years.
“I’m thrilled to be here,” Reaume said in a Wednesday telephone interview.
“I love this community and am very tied to it.”
In other district news, Forks High School Athletic Director Kyle Weakley reported that fall sports were in “full swing” and spring sports were set to begin Monday.
Fall and winter sports were moved to spring this year for COVID-19 precautions. Winter sports are scheduled to begin April 26.
Spectators are required to wear masks at high school games, and capacity is limited to 200.
Weakley said there were “some issues” with masking compliance among fans at the Forks home football game against Napavine last Friday.
“Please wear a mask,” Reaume told Spartan fans.
“It’s a small thing that we can do right now so our children can play.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
