FAQs - Hybrid Learning

Classroom teachers will continue to monitor student engagement during the independent learning time when they are not teacher other in-person students. Activities for independent learning will include lessons and work aligned to the content taught during the in-person session, possible small group work, specialist participation (PE, music, library) and independent reading and writing.

Music, PE, and Library will continue in distance mode during the time that students are at home.

Students in dual language will be with one teacher for two days (M/T) and with the other language teacher for two days (Th/F). Teachers will also provide independent and online activities for students to do in the other language so they can continue to practice both languages.

During the independent learning time, students will engage on Zoom with specialists (PE, music and library), and there may be small group learning. Students will also be working on assignments and activities that align to their in-person learning goals and content.

Students with IEPs will receive services through a combination of in-person instruction, live remote instruction, independent learning, SeeSaw or Google Classroom, and small group instruction provided by general education and special education staff. Since every IEP is unique to the student, please contact your child's IEP case manager to discuss how your child's needs will be served.

Highly capable services will continue to be provided in both hybrid and fully distant models. Students served on Highly Capable Learning Plans will continue to work toward identified goals with support from their classroom teacher. Students served in our Challenge program will continue to be served in classrooms with peers who are also receiving highly capable services.

Students will have at least 3 hours of instructional time a day, including in-person instruction and Zoom classes with music, PE and library specialists. They may have additional instructional time in small groups with paraeducators.

Staff will receive training on meeting the social-emotional (SEL) needs of students, specifically, addressing the different impacts of this unusual school year and returning to school.  Our Highline SEL team is creating lesson plans for instructional staff to use with students. The daily schedule has an established social-emotional block for explicit teaching for community building and teaching SEL skills and strategies, and we acknowledge that SEL will be integrated throughout the instructional day.

If a student in the hybrid program cannot physically attend for an extended period of time but can participate remotely, they should notify the school. Schools will provide daily live instruction to students throughout the time of their remote learning.  

Students will attend school half-days four days per week, Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday. The a.m. cohort will attend 9:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., the p.m. cohort will attend 1:45 - 4:00 p.m.

Students will learn in classrooms either in the morning OR afternoon. They will learn at home the other half of the day and all day on Wednesdays.  See a sample schedule here.

Our goal is to set up our transportation routes so that students in a family attend school during the same times.

Transportation will be provided for students who typically qualify for transportation to and from school.

We are continuing to plan for in-person instruction for middle and high school students and will begin as public health authorities recommend it. Public health suggests we begin to add in middle and high school students when COVID-19 activity rates are in a moderate range.

We will work with school leaders to respond to the information they receive from staff and families. Families had until January 29 to make a decision, and now we are in the process of finalizing staff and student assignments. As of February 10, we are on track to notify families by February 18.

We value the deep student-family-teacher relationships that have formed and will do our best to avoid reassigning students to new teachers. 

Unfortunately, some reassignments may be unavoidable. Not all staff will be able to teach in person due to health risks. A teacher’s in-person or remote assignment will not match up with the preferences of every family in their class.

Additionally, teachers and principals have given strong feedback that teaching both remote students and hybrid students would not be feasible, both in terms of workload and educational effectiveness. 

We have learned from another Washington school district that initially tried to keep teachers and classes together and found it so unworkable that they are now reassigning students into hybrid or fully remote classes with different teachers.

When selecting a model for hybrid learning, we considered two different schedules: two full days each week or four partial days (AM/PM). Based in part on teacher and principal feedback, the half-day model was chosen for elementary school students.

In the AM/PM model, students have more consistent contact with their teachers (almost daily, as opposed to five days without contact.) Teachers can use in-person time to prepare students for the remote work they will complete in the next 24 hours. If students have questions, they can receive real-time in-person support from their teacher the next school day.

The AM/PM model has the same amount of instructional time as the two-full-day model. (In AM/PM, students are at school for fewer minutes because they don't have lunch or recess on site.)

AM/PM session times are based on the contracted teacher workday (8:45 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.) and the need for time between cohorts for transporting students and cleaning classroom surfaces.

Students will not eat meals at school. Breakfast and lunch will be provided via weekly meal kits, which families can pick up. Please see our School Meals webpage for more information.

We will limit class size to 14 students per classroom. 

We have to build classes based on the number of students returning for in-person learning, so accommodating changes will be challenging. There may be limited opportunity to change from one model to the other depending on space in the classroom.

Bus transportation will be provided to and from childcare sites located in the school's service area.

Highline will continue its partnership with the YMCA to provide childcare (before/after school care and full-day care.) The YMCA site will be at one location. Highline will provide transportation to and from this site.

Highline is also exploring a partnership with Right at School to provide before and after school care at additional sites.

The amount of time in live instruction will remain the same, but the times might shift to align schedules for music, library and PE specialists. This will vary by school. Your school will communicate with you about any schedule changes. 

.

Our decision to transition to hybrid learning is based on public health guidance, not on any one data set or study. Public health authorities are doctors and scientists who have expertise in monitoring data, controlling infectious diseases and keeping our communities safe. They are closely watching COVID trends and new variants, and they update their guidance as circumstances change.

Our primary guidance comes from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). DOH recommends in-person instruction for small groups of students when safety measures are in place. This recommendation assumes greater than 350 cases per 100,000 residents in a 14-day period, independent of vaccine availability. This guidance was updated on January 25, 2021. 

Families are asked to fill out the daily health screening form (also called an attestation) online at least 30 minutes prior to the start of school. The health screening forms must be completed on the day the student will attend. All students must have this completed before entering a district building.

Staff also complete an attestation before entering a building. 

If a student arrives at school without having completed the health screening form, they will be screened at school.

Students who do not pass the screening will wait in an isolation room until they can be picked up by a family member.

We will start by setting expectations and teaching students why masks are so important.

• Before hybrid learning starts, teachers will pre-teach what it looks like to be safe by wearing masks in different settings and activities. Teaching and Learning will provide lesson plans.
• Schools will communicate clear guidance on mask-wearing for adults and students and will post signage and images that reinforce the requirement at entries to the school and classrooms.
• Classes will update their classroom charters to emphasize being and feeling safe.
• Schools will give positive incentives for mask-wearing and safe behavior.
• Teaching and Learning will provide additional lessons and resources teachers can use to reinforce mask-wearing. Lessons can be integrated into various content areas.

If a student does not follow the expectation to keep their mask on, we will use progressive discipline, as with any other behavior issue.

• Staff will re-teach the expectations and work with the student to correct the behavior using goal-setting and other behavior modification strategies.
• Teacher or staff will call the student's family to reiterate expectations.
• If a student refuses to wear a mask after attempts to change the behavior, the student may be returned to fully remote learning.

Masks will be available for students who need them. Students are also invited to wear their own, which may be more comfortable for some students.

The guidelines from the state schools superintendent (OSPI) are to maintain 6-foot distance “as much as possible.”  Desks will be spaced six feet apart and interactions closer than six feet will be limited. The guidelines state that passing briefly in a hallway, especially when everyone is wearing a mask, is low-risk.

School safety for hybrid learning are being developed for each school by teams that include the principal, a teacher (HEA) representative, a support staff (Teamster) representative, and a school nurse. A central office team will review the plans for compliance with state and CDC guidance and directives. School safety plans cover entry and exit points, traffic flow, bathroom routines, distancing, and other recommended safety measures. They be posted on our website on February10.

Between AM and PM sessions, chairs and desks will be sprayed with sanitizing solution, frequently touched surfaces will be wiped down, and custodians will sanitize classrooms with an electrostatic machine. In addition, schools will be deep cleaned weekly. Please see our Hybrid Health & Safety section for more detail. 

We will continue to provide meal pick-up. Because students will be in school partial days, we will not serve meals at school. This also decreases the chance of spreading the virus.

Students will stay in their classrooms. Teachers will rotate into classrooms.

Since community transmission is now widespread, any student--new or existing--may be exposed to the virus in the community. New students will be screened just as every student is screened each day.

We are part of a testing pilot program, working with community partners. This pilot will start small and may expand if there is opportunity. To begin, we will deploy testing to a school or site that reports a positive COVID case. Testing will be voluntary for students and staff. Students will need parent/guardian permission to be tested. More information will be shared as the pilot gets up and running.

The family will receive a phone call letting them know their child was in close contact with someone with COVID.  Close contact is defined by Public Health as being within six feet for 15 minutes over a 24-hour period. Please see the Health and Safety section for more information.

Based on the state vaccine schedule, school staff will not all be vaccinated by March 1. We are working to get the state to prioritize teachers and staff.

As much as we wish we could ensure that all staff are vaccinated before returning to schools, it is impossible to know when enough vaccine will be available or when younger educators will be eligible. Public health officials from the CDC, Washington State and King County are not advising us to wait for staff to be vaccinated, but rather support reopening schools with safety measures in place.

We are hopeful that a number of employees will have at least their first vaccination before their grade level returns to buildings, and we are doing all we can to facilitate that. We have established a partnership with a local health care provider to hold a vaccination clinic exclusively for Highline employees as soon as vaccine is available and Tier 4 of the state’s vaccine plan (which includes K-12 employees) opens.

Vaccine requirements are set by the state, not by local districts. We will adhere to whatever the state requires. Currently, a COVID vaccine is not required for staff or students.

Our COVID dashboard shows the reports of positive COVID-19 cases among staff and students on campus and in our hybrid learning model. Please look there for up-to-date numbers. 

Since November, 17 of our schools have been conducting in-person learning with 155 students and 144 staff members participating. 

We do not have funding for a full time nurse at every school. The state funds us for just six nurses for the entire district; we hire 12.5 additional nurses with local levy funds. Staff who do temperature checks will be trained and equipped with PPE. Principals or cabinet members will supervise symptomatic students in isolation rooms until they can be picked up.

Once all surfaces have been wiped down and cleaned, we use the Clorox Total 360 System electrostatic sprayer in each area.  This machine kills pathogens that are airborne, including under desks, walls, ceilings and in small, hard to reach spaces.    

• The area/room is ready for occupancy 20 minutes after is has been sprayed.
• The Clorox Total 360 System can cover up to 18,000 sq feet per hour.
• Surfaces do not require wiping after they have been sprayed.  Mirrors or glass may need to be cleaned only to remove visible residue

HVAC systems play little or no role in mitigating the transmission of large droplets, such as from a cough or sneeze. Large droplets generally carry from point of emission directly to a surface, not into the HVAC air return vent.

HVAC does play a role in controlling the spread of aerosols. Because of the small size of aerosol particles, they can travel via air currents into HVAC air return vents, and our systems can filter aerosols before the air is mixed with new fresh air and recirculated.

Our facilities team has completed an audit of HVAC systems in all Highline buildings.

• All air handling units are operable and functioning appropriately.
• Fresh air intakes have been adjusted to add maximum intake of fresh air into building air circulation.
• All vent airways are unobstructed.
• All thermostat and actuator controls are functioning at or above manufactured performance level.
• All filters have or are being changed.
• Air handler maintenance and filter changes will be done on an accelerated cycle.

The type of PPE staff will need varies based on your duties and setting. Here is the rundown.

General group instructional setting with 6-foot distancing easily maintained: Cloth face covering that fully covers the mouth and nose OR face shield with a cloth-extension attached to the entire edge of the shield.

Small group instructional setting or bus where 6-foot distancing is mostly maintained: Cloth face covering that fully covers the mouth and nose OR non-cloth disposables (dust mask, KN95 or other filtering facepiece respirators, or non-FDA approved procedural masks.)

Small group instructional setting or bus without 6-foot distance and with sustained close contact: Half or full-face respirator with filter or powered air-purifying respirator with filter OR industrial use N95, R95, P95, or non-NIOSH-approved filtering facepiece respirator OR face shield and an FDA-approved  KN95 mask, surgical mask, dust mask, or procedural mask (if a respirator is not reasonably obtained)

Health or isolation rooms: FDA-approved surgical mask or N95 filtering respirator OR elastomeric respirator with filter OR face shield plus a KN95 mask, surgical mask, dust mask, or procedural mask (if a respirator cannot be reasonably obtained)

If state or local public health authorities advise that conditions require schools to close, we will close buildings and return to fully remote learning. Currently, public health guidance is to open schools for hybrid instruction for young students.

A classroom will close and switch to distance learning for 10 days when two or more students or staff in the same classroom or work area test positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of each other and the cases are not associated in another setting (household, club, etc.)

A school will close and switch to distance learning for 10 days when:

• Two or more classrooms are dismissed due to outbreaks, as defined above (in schools with 10 or fewer classrooms).
• 10% or more of classrooms are dismissed due to outbreaks, as defined above (in schools with more than 10 classrooms).
• School cannot function due to insufficient teaching or support staff.

Based on Washington State Department of Health guidance