THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2020
Baker City, Oregon
4A
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EDITORIAL
Contact
tracing
limitations
Contact tracing — until this year a process fa-
miliar mainly to epidemiologists — is elegant in its
simplicity.
Or so it seemed.
The idea is to track the spread of communicable
diseases by interviewing people who are infected and
fi nding out who they have had close contact with and
thus might unknowingly have spread the disease to.
In some cases the potential infectious encounter is
obvious — a person who tests positive spends a cou-
ple of days in a small house with a group of friends.
But the limitations of contact tracing have be-
come apparent in Oregon during the coronavirus
pandemic. For much of this summer, contact tracers
haven’t been able to determine the source of infec-
tion for more than 40% of Oregonians who tested
positive. The rate of “mystery” infections recently
is even higher in some counties, including 62% in
Multnomah County, the state’s most populous, and
67% in Clackamas, which ranks third in population,
according to The Oregonian.
A potential reason for this level of uncertainty
is the limited nature of contact tracer interviews.
Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian
reported last week that contact tracers aren’t asking
people who tested positive for COVID-19 whether
they’ve patronized a bar, restaurant or gym during
the period when they might have been infectious.
Health offi cials from Multnomah County told The
Oregonian that this question isn’t part of contact
tracing interviews because there aren’t enough trac-
ers to track potential infections based on places the
infected person visited, and that the primary goal is
to identify people who might have been in close con-
tact with an infected person. Those people are then
asked to voluntarily quarantine during the period
when they might be infectious.
But even if health agencies don’t have resources
to backtrack every infected person’s movements,
conducting more thorough contact tracing interviews
would at a minimum yield additional data. And if
ever there was a situation when more information
is welcome, surely the coronavirus pandemic is that
situation.
The purpose isn’t to target bars, restaurants and
gyms, many of which have been devastated fi nancial-
ly during the pandemic. The Oregon Health Author-
ity (OHA) hasn’t reported any COVID-19 outbreaks
at a bar or gym, and the agency has announced just
six relatively small outbreaks at restaurants, involv-
ing fi ve to 14 infections. But the OHA limits disclo-
sure of such outbreaks — it doesn’t announce ones
involving fewer than fi ve people or ones at businesses
that employ fewer than 30.
But the OHA is unlikely to reveal latent infection
patterns if contact tracers aren’t asking possibly
relevant questions. Responses to those questions,
besides the obvious benefi t of potentially identifying
sources of community spread and making it possible
to deal with those sources, could help businesses by
alerting them to potential gaps in their COVID-19
precautions.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
Schools, families must work
together on distance learning
Many teachers, students and their
families can agree on one thing after
experiencing the unexpected hurricane
that was distance learning this spring:
It must improve — especially in the
earliest grades, transitional kindergar-
ten through second grade.
Our youngest students, from ages 4
to 9, need more supervision through-
out the day and help with the technol-
ogy that enables learning. They are
developmentally different from their
older peers in ways that signifi cantly
impact how they best learn. Distance-
learning practices must refl ect that
reality.
As educational researchers, we
learned from conversations with
teachers, school leaders, parents and
early-education experts what strate-
gies were effective for initiating and
sustaining student engagement in the
spring. Anyone responsible for sup-
porting young students in distance
learning could benefi t from employing
these approaches.
Obviously, distance instruction is
not the same as in-person instruction
and should not look the same. Sure,
some strategies can transfer to a dis-
tance classroom, but forcing distance
learning to look like “normal” school is
trying to put a square peg in a round
hole and will only hurt our youngest
students.
California requires at least 180
minutes of instructional time a day
for kindergarten students and 230
minutes for grades one through three.
Setting this expectation is critical for
ensuring students receive daily inter-
action with teachers and their peers.
However, many districts, including Los
Angeles Unifi ed, have struggled with
determining how much instruction
should be given through live, uninter-
rupted video streams. LAUSD is giving
teachers broad leeway on that front.
Even adults have trouble videocon-
ferencing for long stretches. For the
youngest students, it is nearly impos-
sible.
It’s an ineffective strategy for
younger students for an obvious reason
— they have shorter attention spans.
But the livestream approach also
emphasizes the quantity of instruction
without giving enough attention to
quality.
In a traditional classroom, young
BENJAMIN
COTTINGHAM
ALIX
GALLAGHER
students spend signifi cant amounts
of time learning in small groups with
peers rather than with the whole class,
so that teachers can provide individu-
alized feedback, more easily conduct
lessons, and intentionally facilitate
social interactions between students.
Distance classrooms should mirror this
approach.
Live instruction in distance class-
rooms should be structured around
short interactive lessons, with synchro-
nous learning opportunities — where
students learn together at the same
time — broken into smaller chunks
throughout the day. Teachers should
have multiple opportunities to interact
with students one-on-one and in
smaller groups, and they should make
it a priority to use learning activities
that allow students to work together.
Play is essential for learning and
key to young students’ development
of interpersonal skills, as well as their
social emotional well-being. There
are many creative ways teachers can
reach beyond the computer screen to
facilitate play.
Games such as “Simon Says” help
build executive-functioning skills and
provide an opportunity for energetic
young students to move. Technol-
ogy can be used to facilitate play and
engagement between students through
various education applications and
games. Teachers can also use interac-
tions similar to “carpet time” to foster
engagement where students interact
with materials or items individually
and share their creations with their
teacher and classmates.
And as families know all too well,
young students need ongoing adult
engagement to guide their distance
learning. To support parents, schools
and districts such as San Francisco
Unifi ed are partnering with commu-
nity organizations that traditionally
support students to provide learn-
ing spaces and trained staff to help
students to safely complete distance
learning lessons. And teachers only
have so much time, so maintaining
regular contact with student families
should not just fall to them — counsel-
ors and noninstructional staff should
help out.
In the spring, some teachers cre-
ated fl exible lessons that families
could adapt to the time and resources
available to them. Providing students
and parents with options for different
activities drives engagement while
being responsive to family needs.
Regular check-ins with a student’s
family should serve as a troubleshoot-
ing opportunity, whether it’s about the
academics or the family’s well-being.
In addition, lessons focused on topics
important to students’ families can
also help bring culturally relevant
instruction to the fore.
Teachers should provide alterna-
tives to student learning as a group by
offering at-home work that can be com-
pleted on their own or away from the
computer. These might include online
literacy, numeracy and math, and sci-
ence lessons as well as such activities
as guided reading in any language or
building math skills through daily ac-
tivities such as cooking or telling time.
Just as in a brick-and-mortar
classroom, young students should be
encouraged to display their mastery of
new concepts, which could be accom-
plished through apps, verbal sharing
and small-group conversations.
In the spring, many schools and
districts did not do a good enough
job communicating expectations to
parents. Teachers and schools need
to make sure families and students
understand their roles in making dis-
tance learning work. A clear schedule
should be provided that establishes
the time, for example, for whole-class
morning meetings, guided readings,
the teacher’s offi ce hours, and the
blocks of time for instruction.
Improving distance education in
ways that support student learning
this fall will require meaningful chang-
es in practice and tighter collaboration
between schools and families. Distance
education is here for the foreseeable
future. We need to get better at it.
Benjamin Cottingham and Alix Gallagher
are educational researchers at Policy
Analysis for California Education.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Donald Trump: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to
send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate Offi ce
Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753;
fax 202-228-3997. Portland offi ce: One World Trade Center, 121
S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386;
fax 503-326-2900. Baker City offi ce, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-
278-1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717.
La Grande offi ce: 105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-
962-7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District): D.C. offi ce: 2182 Rayburn
Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-
225-5774. La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande, OR
97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.treasurer@
ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR 97301-
3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and information
are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem offi ce: 900
Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1730. Email: Sen.
LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem offi ce: 900 Court
St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460. Email: Rep.
MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker City,
OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049. City Council meets
the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.
Loran Joseph, Randy Schiewe, Lynette Perry, Arvid Andersen, Larry
Morrison, Jason Spriet and Doni Bruland.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Fred Warner Jr.,
city manager; Ray Duman, police chief; Sean Lee, interim fi re chief;
Michelle Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse 1995
3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200. Meets the fi rst and
third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett,
Bruce Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis Ash,
sheriff; Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter, district attorney;
Alice Durfl inger, county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry
Savage, county assessor.
Baker School District: 2090 4th Street, Baker City, OR 97814;
541-524-2260; fax 541-524-2564. Superintendent: Mark Witty.
Board meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Council
Chambers, Baker City Hall,1655 First St.; Andrew Bryan, Kevin
Cassidy, Chris Hawkins, Katie Lamb and Julie Huntington.