Much is still uncertain for the Hood River County School District during the state-mandated closure — now extended until April 28 — but staff is still working hard to provide resources and information to students and families through the crisis.
“It’s our continued focus as a school district to continue to support students and families,” said Superintendent Dr. Sara Hahn-Huston. “It’s important to us that the community knows we’re here to support them in any way we can.”
Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that the statewide school closure would be extended to a total of six weeks, until April 28, and additionally ordered Oregon’s public schools to provide learning supports and supplemental services to students and families during the closure period, including the delivery of food assistance and offering childcare for health care professionals and first responders.
The Hood River County School District currently has optional learning resources up on its website for students and their families to use, but those were designed with the seven-day school closure in mind, Hahn-Huston said, and don’t reach in-district students without computer or internet access. Because the district doesn’t have the resources to ensure that all students have internet access and internet-accessible devices, the district is currently exploring the option of doing hard-copy packets that students could pick up and work on at home.
“We feel like with the resources we have we want to create equitable resources and access for families across the county,” said Hahn-Huston. More information will be sent out to families after spring break, at which time Hahn-Huston hopes the district will have more concrete instruction to give to its teachers.
Per Gov. Brown’s order, all regular employees are being paid through the duration of the closure. Hahn-Huston confirmed that all Hood River County School District staff, including classified and hourly employees, are currently being paid.
“We’re paying all employees through this time. That’s a relief for all people, I think that’s the right thing to do,” said Hahn-Huston, adding that she is impressed with how well teachers and staff have handled the challenges of the closure so far. “We have a ton of people who are willing to do things that aren’t really in their job description so that’s been really a relief and really exciting to see.”
Administration staff is set to return to work March 30-31 and teachers are asked to return on April 1 to work on developing new supplemental learning material and to start planning for the rest of the school year — whatever form that takes. It’s unclear how makeup days are going to work — options discussed include extending the school year into the summer, or amending graduation requirements for graduating seniors — but per Gov. Brown’s orders, solutions depend on whatever guidance is given by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).
“ODE is trying to work through that for us,” said Hahn-Huston. “We’re just having to hurry up and wait for some of it.”
The district is also waiting for ODE direction on how best to meet the childcare provision of Gov. Brown’s executive order. Community members, particularly faith-based groups, have already reached out with offers to help provide childcare, but the district has to wait for direction from ODE before accepting any of those offers. Volunteers have been helping distribute to-go breakfasts and lunches, prepared ahead-of-time by school staff, at the district’s meal distribution sites (see sidebar for times and locations) — and the Cascade Locks Fire Department has been hand-delivering meals to families in Cascade Locks.
“I’ve been really impressed with the people in the county who have stepped forward and been willing to help,” said Hahn-Huston.
The school district is looking to extend the meal program through spring break and potentially add more distribution sites, while also cutting back the hours those sites are open so that they can be managed with little to no volunteer support. “We’re tracking the numbers and all the sites have been well utilized,” said Hahn-Huston, adding that most families pick up their meals between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., so it would make sense to just offer meal pickups during that time in order to make the program more sustainable. “We’re trying to figure out where the needs are and the resources we have access to,” she said.
With how quickly information is changing, Hahn-Huston’s current focus is on keeping students and their families updated.
“It’s no longer that things are changing daily, it’s almost hourly, so we’re trying to stay on top of that to keep our community informed,” she said. “It’s really such a unique circumstance for everyone across the country so be in but we know that people rely on us for support, so we’ll be there.”
For the most current information, visit www.hoodriver.k12.or.us.
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