The Bend-La Pine and Redmond school districts got a glimmer of good news Monday as new COVID data shows the county met the state’s metric last week to reopen schools.
Deschutes County reported 57 COVID cases Oct. 11-17 (29.5/100,000 residents), according to the Oregon Health Authority.
State health metrics say the county needs to see 30 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents for three straight weeks to reopen schools for kids in grades K-3.
If county residents can minimize COVID cases over the next couple of weeks, students can begin the transition to a hybrid in-person/distance learning model on Nov. 9th.
Bend-La Pine will stay in the hybrid model once it’s allowed to reopen meaning half the students would attend in-person on Monday and Tuesday with the other half attending in person on Thursday and Friday.
Distance learning will continue on the days students are not in the classroom.
Once allowed to return, the Redmond School District has said it will utilize the hybrid model for two weeks before returning to full-time, in-person instruction for kids in grades K-3.
Until Monday, Deschutes County had not met the metrics since Sept. 13th.
You can see the Oregon Health Authority’s weekly School Metric Data here.
