PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 19, 2021
Elementary superintendent on
fi rst weeks of student returns
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
As of Wednesday, March 17, all K-5
students in Salem-Keizer Public Schools
(SKPS) have made a return to in-person
learning. Even though students are only
attending in-person classes twice per
week in their hybrid model, the district is
thrilled that kids are fi nally back in school.
“It’s been incredible. I can’t think of
enough ways to even describe it. I think
overall for our organization it’s such a
sense of relief to be able to welcome
students and families back,” said Kraig
Sproles, the assistant superintendent for
elementary education for SKPS. Last week,
Governor Kate Brown issued an executive
order to reopen all elementary schools in
the state by March 29 and all secondary
schools by April 19.
Before the executive order was
announced, SKPS was ahead of schedule
and started bringing elementary students
back to school on March 2. Sproles believes
that the district’s relationship with the
Salem-Keizer Education Association and
the Association of Salem-Keizer Support
Professionals, as well as the push from
teachers to come back to the classrooms,
were the main reasons SKPS was able to
come back to in-person learning before
other big districts, such as Portland and
Eugene. “We have such a strong collabo-
rative relationship with our teachers and
classifi ed bargaining units,” Sproles said.
“Since last April, teachers have been clam-
oring to have their students back. We have
been working really well with our teachers
and classifi ed staff to be able to make sure
we can do it safely.”
According to Sproles, SKPS began
their organizational preparedness process
and were reviewing safety protocol plans
during the summer before other districts,
so that if COVID-19 metrics changed at
What we saw from
the protocols at
school was that
the kids weren’t
spreading COVID
at school to the
teachers or to each
other.
—
AI S
ES
Superintendent elementary ed., SKPS
File / KEIZERTIMES
the drop of hat, they would be ready.
While some SKPS students have
entered their school buildings for the fi rst
time this month, the district has been
running Limited-In-Person Instruction
(LIPPI) since September, which Sproles
said “gave us a chance to test and make
sure we are following all the protocols,
which we have proven to be successful.”
Sproles admitted that there were some
positive COVID cases that occurred
during LIPPI but that the district’s proto-
cols and contract tracing procedures with
Marion County Health helped minimize
spreading.
“We did have positive COVID cases
in the community that were brought into
our schools. But what we saw from the pro-
tocols at school was that the kids weren’t
spreading COVID at school to the teach-
ers or to each other,” Sproles said. “It’s
impossible, especially in an asymptomatic
case, to screen that out of the school
entirely. But what we can do is have sys-
tems in place for how we respond and
react to that.”
“We are fully expecting COVID will
come into our schools, it’s just how we mit-
igate, trace and isolate the cohort and then
bring them back as soon as possible.”
In-school protocols, which are featured
on the district website, involve constant
hand cleaning, disinfection of surfaces
and small class sizes to maintain physi-
cal distance with approximately 35 square
feet per student in the class-
room. Staff members are also
required to fi ll out screening
questions every day — if
a staff member brings in
COVID-19 into the schools,
the district assumes they will
be asymptomatic and have
protocols in place to remove
them from the building and
start the contact tracing pro-
cess with student cohorts.
Sproles said that while
school has run smoothly
these last few weeks, some of
the biggest challenges have
been small things that begin
to pile up, such as spacing
out students and providing
ways they can eat and use
the restroom safely.
“It’s all the little things.
We are very focused on hand
washing and hand cleaning
protocols right now … It’s also things like
access to the bathrooms. We can’t just
lineup the kids like we always have and
send them in groups into the bathroom.
We need to provide extra staffi ng and
oversight for that,” Sproles said.
However, Sproles also believes that this
return to in-person instruction signals the
beginning of a return to normalcy.
“I can honestly say that once kids get to
the classrooms with their teachers, it feels
a lot like regular school,” Sproles said.
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