Last spring Region 10 GSA Office donated 75 laptops to students and teachers in the Winlock School District.
With the COVID-19 cases on the rise in Lewis County, the Lewis County Public Health and Safety Officer Dr. Rachel Wood is recommending that all schools start with remote learning.
On August 3, Wood sent out a letter to Lewis County School Superintendents stating "As Lewis County Health Officer, pursuant to the authority granted by the legislature in RCW 70.05.070(3), in order to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 within my jurisdiction, at this time I strongly urge and recommend all K-12 schools to remain closed to in-person general instruction for the start of the 2020 school year."
Wood continued, "Based on the COVID‐19 disease activity in Lewis County and our region, I do not feel it is safe to open schools in September for traditional classroom learning. Therefore, I recommend all public and private schools offering classes in Lewis County in the K-12 range to remain closed to in-person general instruction for the 2020 Fall term, and for districts to utilize distance learning modalities. Failure to comply with this recommendation may require stronger restrictions in the future up to and including mandatory closure. COVID-19 affects all ages in every geographic area of our county. Our positive case numbers ."
With this in mind, Winlock School Superintendent Garry Cameron, sent out a letter to parents, the letter in part reads "While we are disappointed and saddened for our students, the only option is to provide remote instruction beginning August 31, 2020. Anticipating the requirement to be fully remote, we have been working to improve our remote learning programs. We have learned from our experience in the spring. We are committed to providing a much stronger remote learning model that will be an improved learning experience for our students."
Toledo School District Superintendent Chris Rust put out information to parents that states had "We developed a plan that will work for all circumstances I will be recommending to the board that we follow the guidance of our public health officials and open in the online mode only for most students and that we do on-campus instruction for only our most severely handicapped students that cannot be meaningfully served at home."
Since Wood has recommended remote learning while Lewis County continues to see an increase in COVID-19 cases, the rise continued this past week seeing new cases reported in the double digits.