WA Education Association: Safety requirements need to be ‘fully in place’ before in-person return

Gov. Jay Inslee issued new recommendations Wednesday, advising a large portion of Washington schools to begin a phased return to in-person classes, starting with younger students.

Gov. Inslee recommends WA schools begin bringing students back into classrooms

Inslee cited emerging data indicating that COVID-19 doesn’t spread as prominently among young children, and expressed confidence that stringent health and safety measures can help control the spread of the virus in schools. That includes wearing masks at all times, maintaining six feet of physical distance whenever possible, improved ventilation, and increased cleaning.

The Washington Education Association, which is the largest representative of public school employees in the state, released a statement in response to the governor’s updated guidelines. In past months, WEA has been hesitant about a return to full in-person learning, primarily due to the safety risks to educators.

WEA President Larry Delaney says the trust needed for a return to school “would have been easier to build” if educators had more communication with the governor about these pending changes before they were announced.

While WEA agrees attention should be paid to safety requirements when considering a return to in-person learning, Delaney also says there have to be plans in place on “day one,” ensuring there is adequate PPE, distancing, ventilation, and protocols for what should happen if a case is detected. Implementing these guidelines, Delaney adds, will take time.

Read the full statement from the WEA president below:

“The trust and confidence that we can safely return to school is something that must be earned. It would have been easier to build that trust with educators with more communications in advance from the Governor about these pending changes.

We agree with the Governor that the spotlight should be on L&I safety requirements, which are key for building trust with educators, students and families. Districts must meet those requirements on day one. We need to know that there is adequate PPE, distancing, ventilation, an active and trained safety committee in each building, effective plans for contact tracing, testing and clear communications regarding protocols for what happens when a case is detected in school.

Implementing these guidelines in areas where school is still remotely operating will take time. We are concerned that the way these changes were rolled out implies that school can resume before there is time to put these safety measures in place.

WEA’s focus will be to advocate that these requirements are fully in place before any expansion of in-person teaching and learning.”

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