Puyallup School District Students Will Not Return To Class Monday

PUYALLUP, WA — Students with the Puyallup School District will not be returning to class next week after all.

The district announced Thursday that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Pierce County has forced them to cancel all plans for in person learning. Earlier, the district had planned for students in grades K-1 to be allowed to return to class four days a week starting October 6. The following Monday students grades 2-6 would have returned to the class for two days a week.

But now, both of those plans have been shelved for the time being. In a statement, the school district explained that they were advised by the Tacoma - Pierce County Health Department that it would be unwise to reopen classrooms amid the recent surge in cases. Instead, they will wait until case counts begin to decline before announcing any new plans to return students to school.

The move does not change plans for high need students, who have already returned to in-person learning in small groups. It also does not affect students in self-contained special education, developmental preschool, and secondary students at McKinney Vento.

Now that the district has made their decision, they say they're working on contacting all parents and students who may have been impacted. The district plans to give families new learning plans and schedules for continued remote learning by Friday, with more guidance to come the following Monday to help students through the full week.

This article originally appeared on the Puyallup Patch