The Washington School Board officially voted to start school on site face-to-face learning with face coverings required on August 24th. In a special session meeting Thursday night, the board discussed the proposed Return to Learn plan that administration had presented last week.

Superintendent Willie Stone explained that any moves to online learning as a district will follow the guidelines outlined by Governor Kim Reynolds last week which are based on the 14-day rolling average for COVID-19 positivity rates. That figure is now available on the state’s coronavirus website for each county. School Board President Eric Turner said they’ll consider this data as the school year progresses, “There’s going to be a lot of opinions across the board, but I don’t know necessarily, there’s going to be maybe some people that feel scared. I mean, I hope we’re teaching that people are looking at information and make informed decisions based on the information, and not necessarily just out of emotions.”

The board voted unanimously to return to full-time in-person learning. The board voted 5-2 to require face coverings as presented in the Return to Learn plan for students and staff. The plan allows for some breaks from wearing face coverings throughout the day for students, with less time in coverings for younger students. The district will provide face shields for students and staff, and has thousands of masks on hand.