SPOKANE, Wash — Washington Governor Jay Inslee and state superintendent Chris Reykdal issued new guidelines for school districts when it comes to reopening in the fall.
But in an unusual move compared to Inslee's previous actions during the pandemic, the guidelines are recommendations rather than requirements.
There are still some statewide mandates for schools concerning how to handle in-person instruction when it exists. All schools must adhere to specific social distancing, personal protective equipment and sanitation guidelines. However, state protocols on whether to have in-person instruction to begin with leave the final decision up to individual districts.
So why would Inslee do that? Why not make it an order like he's done for so many other issues related to COVID-19?
First, the governor said he wants to respect the autonomy of communities to run their own schools
"There's been a tradition of local decision making by local communities, where school boards that are democratically elected just like Chris and I are, they also have responsibility," Inslee said.
Second, Inslee said this guidance is something districts have been asking for, so he doesn't expect much resistance from them.
"The large majority of the communities that have made a decision one way or another, have made decisions consistent with our recommendations," he said.
But perhaps the most significant reason for leaving the protocols optional is to provide districts with flexibility. That's necessary because the various "risk levels" are broken up by county. But school districts, of course, are not.
That means a big city like Spokane could be weighing down the numbers for the whole county. And that might not be fair to a smaller, more rural district in the same county, such as Medical Lake or Nine Mile Falls. If the virus is better contained there, it doesn't make much sense to lump them in with Spokane.
"It does give them some flexibility in this regard and we do have some districts with very low activity," Inslee said.
Some districts also cross multiple counties, so making the county-based guidelines a mandate would create a very confusing situation for those districts.
Essentially, the idea here is to provide districts with expectations for what they should consider in their decision making process, but to give them the freedom to make the decision that's actually best for them.