Susan’s right.
There was more heated debate during Wednesday night’s Pullman School Board meeting as 3 trustees decided to keep students out of the classroom for the rest of the year.
Pullman school children remain the only ones in Whitman County studying online. Whitman County’s Public Health Director has supported a mix of in-person classroom and online instruction for Pullman elementary schools since mid-October. Interim public health director Chris Skidmore took part in Wednesday night’s meeting. Skidmore told the board that out of a nationwide data set of 1.5 million, outbreaks of coronavirus at elementary schools with 5 or more cases have only occurred 2% of the time. He also told the board that new nationwide metrics are expected to strengthen the science that elementary school children spread coronavirus less than older age groups.
Most Pullman elementary school families support getting their children back in school according to a school district survey. Pullman Schools Superintendent Dr. Bob Maxwell previously recommended that the reopening plan begin no sooner than November 9th. The plan begins with reopening elementary school grades in two-week phases with a mix of in-person classroom and hybrid instruction. Parents can choose to keep their children studying at home.
Pullman School Board Members Nathan Roberts, Jim Evermann, and Amanda Tanner voted to wait until January 4th to begin the phased reopening hybrid format. You can listen to Roberts’s argument by clicking on the audio file below.
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Pullman School Board Member Susan Weed voted against the delay. You can listen to Weed’s comment by clicking on the audio file below.
Weed and Roberts had a heated exchange just before the vote. You can listen to that by clicking on the audio file below.
Public comment was prohibited during Wednesday night’s special meeting of the Pullman School Board. The public will be allowed to talk to the board during next week’s regular meeting which will be held on Thursday night the 12th.