Bellevue School District latest to announce online learning for fall

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Bellevue School District will resume full-time remote learning for the fall 2020 semester.

Superintendent Ivan Duran made the announcement on Wednesday in a letter to students, parents, teachers and staff in the district.

In the letter, Duran said he and the school board were originally planning for a safe return to school.

“It has always been my hope that our students would return to school this fall at one of our 29 school campuses. There is no substitute for in-person learning. It provides essential connections for our students with both the educators who know them well and their classmates,” wrote Duran.

The superintendent said he attended a meeting Tuesday afternoon with other superintendents from throughout the region and officials from Public Health of Seattle & King County.

“The health officials clearly stated that, based on the steady increase of COVID-19 infections in King County over the last several weeks, they cannot imagine a way to have on-campus learning in the fall without the risk of significant transmission of the virus to students, educators, staff, and the general public,” wrote Duran. “As the person who ultimately bears responsibility for the health and safety of our students, educators, and staff in our schools, I cannot in good conscience open our school campuses to most of our students this fall based on this clear guidance from public health officials.”

Sam Fetchero, a Bellevue parent, has three children. His daughter will be entering second grade and his son will be entering kindergarten this fall.

The father said he is very disappointed in the district’s decision to resume with remote learning.

“It feels kind of like Bellevue took something away from us,” said Fetchero. “For us, with a kindergartener and second grader, being in school by far is the best thing for our kids-to be able to socialize with other children and to have that in-person instruction.”

Fetchero said he had “high hopes” of getting his kids back in a classroom this fall. Now his family is considering other options.

“We’re going to leave everything on the table and that could even include moving into a different area to have school because it’s that impactful. We’re certainly going to look at holding back our son going into kindergarten. I just don’t think it’s going to be a good experience starting kindergarten remotely. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. So, we’re going to look at potentially going to preschool which hopefully they will remain open, they have remained open we haven’t heard any problems with preschools,” said Fetchero.

The district recently conducted a survey asking parents about fall enrollment. Of the parents that responded, officials said more than 70 percent of them wanted their kids back in school in some capacity. Fetchero said he questions if the district considered those results.

“My ask is not that you make kids go back to school, make teachers go back in the classroom, but we’d love to have options and we’d love to have some control in this process. And when 70 percent of parents want to send their kids back to school in person, I think you have to listen to that and I think you have to make that a reality,” said Fetchero.

In Duran’s letter, he wrote, “We will be reaching out to families again to confirm their intent to enroll in either the Temporary Remote/Hybrid Learning model or the BSD Virtual Learning model. We expect to release questionnaires on July 28 with a due date of July 31. Your response will greatly assist the district in assigning students to educators and building schedules for middle and high school students.”

The Seattle Public Schools superintendent announced, Wednesday, they will recommend remote learning this fall. This comes after the district said it has also taken a closer look at the increasing virus transmission rates.

The Seattle School Board is scheduled to vote on the superintendent’s recommendation on August 12th.