SPOKANE, Wash. — East Valley School District will reopen on Tuesday following the cancelation of all classes on Monday. Classes were canceled after losing additional staff due to positive COVID-19 test results.
This report applied to all schools in the East Valley District, including:
- Children First
- Continuous Curriculum School
- East Farms School
- Otis Orchards School
- Trent School
- Trentwood School
- East Valley Middle School
- East Valley High School
“At this point, I do not believe that we have the capacity to successfully and safely hold school tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 10,” stated in an email by EVSD. “Several of us met earlier today and ultimately determined that closing tomorrow is the right call."
The district hosted COVID-19 testing at Trent Elementary for students and families and at East Valley High School for staff.
East Valley Superintendent Brian Talbott said the district will work to keep students in classrooms.
"I'm in the business of educating kids and we need our staff and we need our students in order to do that so we're going to emphasize masking and social distancing," Talbott said.
However, Talbott also talked about the critical need for essential staff. He said the district has suffered from staffing shortages since September, and a lack of transportation and food service workers led to school closures Monday.
The district chose not to host online learning because some East Valley students don't have the bandwidth to make the last-minute learning adjustment. Instead, students will be required to make up the school day at the end of the year.
When asked if the current COVID-19 situation will be addressed during tomorrow's East Valley school board meeting, Talbott said he wasn't sure.