Oregon’s public school students will not return to their classrooms this academic year.

Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday announced that her school closure order, originally slated to end April 28, will now stretch into June in an effort to maintain the state’s progress in stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“School and learning will continue as best as we can using remote means,” Brown said, adding she wanted to give parents, educator and students certainty about the rest of the school year.

“I wish I could make it easier for everyone,” she said. “I wish I could eliminate the frustration that so many of us are feeling right now.”

But the additional month and a half of school closure, beyond that already announced, “is the best thing we can do for the health of our children and for thousands of educators across the state,” Brown said.

Oregon Department of Education officials had anticipated the mandate, urging the state’s public school districts in late March to adopt distance learning plans and launch them by April 13.

Jim Green, head of the Oregon School Boards Association, said in reaction to Wednesday’s news, “It has appeared for some time this day was coming, but it’s a difficult day all the same. It’s sad to think of families unable to experience the graduation moment celebrating years of hard work by students. It’s sad to think of empty classrooms, further disruptions in learning, and knowing that some students’ needs will be unmet. But these are unprecedented times, and we support the governor’s decision in the interest of protecting public health.”

Brown also said she and state schools chief Colt Gill have long-awaited guidance for schools, parents and high school seniors about how local school officials will decide whether members of the class of 2020 qualify for a diploma.

All seniors who were on track to graduate when schools closed in mid-March, including having passing grades at that point in any course required for graduation, will receive passing grades and earn diplomas, she said. That right to graduate is locked in for those students, regardless of their participation in learning after schools closed.

Brown called on districts to give extra attention and special opportunities to any students who had Fs in one or more needed courses on March 13 to help them “get across the finish line.” Districts must give those students until Aug. 30 to show they have mastered the required material to earn a D or better, department guidance says.

Gill said that Oregon families, in addition to teachers and school administrators, were sailing into uncharted waters and that that the state’s distance learning guidelines were putting a particular burden on parents who suddenly find themselves adopting some of the responsibilities that typically fall on educators’ shoulders.

"We’re asking everyone — our students, our families and our teachers — to change what they do day in and day out,” he said.

Gill tried to reassure high school seniors worried that the partial school year means they won’t be prepared for the demands of life after high school.

“This year’s seniors... I want them to know I believe in them, their teachers believe in them," he said. "Your school is ready to support you on your pathway to graduation” and, for those who choose it, college.

The state board of education will meet April 16 to ratify the changes.

John Larson, president of the Oregon Education Association, called the state’s guidance for graduating seniors “a strong step in the right direction for ensuring equity in education for our students during these school closures.”

Green, the schools boards association chief, said district officials are willing to cede their normal right to local control over graduation decisions and honor the state directive to grant passing grades based on seniors’ work prior to March 13.

“We firmly believe in local control, but in these unprecedented circumstances a statewide approach is both equitable and cuts through a lot of red tape,” he said in a statement. "This step now gives students and schools needed certainty that those all-important diplomas have been earned and are being issued.”

Brown said Oregon seniors who have been accepted to any of the state’s public colleges or universities have also cemented their place for the fall. School closures won’t affect admissions, she said, and students can’t have their college acceptance rescinded once it’s been offered.

Gill repeatedly emphasized that Oregon’s high school seniors have, in most cases, been in the system for nearly 13 years. He said the pandemic shouldn’t negate the years of work students have put in to date.

“The part that they’re missing and we’re overcoming is just 1.7% of their time spent in school. These kids have accomplished a lot of learning,” Gill said.

Gill said his agency’s next work will be to come up with guidance on how schools and districts should help ninth- through 11th-graders earn credits and gain and show proficiency in order to qualify for their graduations in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“We have been trying to make decisions as we understand conditions on the ground, and we all have to have a bit of grace and patience,” Gill added.

He said districts that are able to do so will be able to offer summer school programs for some or all their students. He also said some districts are exploring whether they can begin next school year early to offer students more in-person instruction.

Larson, the Oregon Education Association president, said he hopes state officials also train their attention on students who may fall through the cracks.

“It remains critically important that Governor Brown and the Oregon Department of Education release guidance for districts that truly prioritizes equity in the distance learning that will take place while schools are closed," he said.

Oregon House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, also weighed in, stressing her desire that high school seniors be supplied with work that furthers their education even with just weeks left before graduation.

“Let’s support the work of our graduating seniors by giving them access to a comprehensive education through the end of their k-12 career. This is the leadership needed to honor their years of hard work and commitment to achieve the future of their dreams,” she said.

Brown said school districts are not expected to lay off non-essential workers, noting that teachers and counselors are still working with students remotely and that cafeteria workers are preparing food for students in need and bus drivers in some cases are delivering it.

But she said she expects school districts, all of which had been ramping up to hire more employees to offer the enhanced services promised under Student Success Act, to “put those plans on ice” rather than hire. State economists have said it is unclear what Oregon’s new business tax for education, which had been projected to deliver more than $1 billion for schools in the coming academic year, will actually look like, given the cratering economy.

Some districts began their first week of distance learning Monday. Oregon education officials’ insistence that districts educate their students from afar was an about-face from their previous position.

As recently as March 19, both state and local education officials said they simply lacked the infrastructure to adopt an online learning strategy that can serve all of their students equally, in particular children with disabilities and for whom English is a second language.

Brown’s original closure order closed public schools to shutter for two weeks surrounding spring break. The governor extended that mandate to April 28 days later.

The closure order required districts to provide students with supplemental learning material, either online or distributed in physical packets, in order to continue collecting state funding. Districts also had to provide meals for their students and pay teachers for the length of the closure.

Brown’s original order also barred the state’s public online academies from enrolling new students.

--Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano

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