White Salmon schools are kicking off their staggered transition into a hybrid model of instruction this week.

Starting Feb. 1, kindergartners, first-graders and fourth-graders will be welcomed back into the halls of Whitson Elementary School for the first time since last spring. The plan was approved in a special meeting of the White Salmon Valley Board of Directors earlier this month after Klickitat County Health Officials announced the COVID-19 disease activity in Klickitat County has dropped to moderate levels as defined in the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) “Tools to Prepare for Provision of In-Person Learning among K-12 Students at Public and Private Schools during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”