Students expected back in Tacoma classrooms by the end of September

TACOMA - Tacoma Public School students are expected to be back in the classroom by the end of the month.

District officials say they are receiving guidance from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

The current plan has preschool to second grade going back in classrooms by September 28th.

Third to fifth grade will return by October, and the remaining grades are expected to return by early November.

Some parents tell Q13 News they are concerned the district is bringing kids back to school too quickly.

"I’m very nervous as to what it’s going to look like when they go in the classroom and really how safe are they going to be. What protocols are they going to be with checking them into school and make sure no one is walking in with fevers or COVID symptoms?" said Shirley Jamerson.

Jamerson is the mother of four Tacoma Public School children. Her daughter is a preschooler and would be one of the first to go back to the classroom.

She says she feels this information was dropped on parents without any plan or time to prepare for such a big change.

"I just don’t see how the benefits outweigh the risks right now," said Jamerson.

Jamerson says she would have preferred if students could have done online classes through the year.

District officials say parents had two options for education this year: a hybrid model which is both online and in-person and an entirely online school year.

Tacoma Public Schools says parents who do not want to send their children to school in person may enroll in Tacoma Online, but currently there is a waitlist of about 800 people.

For more information on the return of in-person learning for Tacoma Public Schools click here.