Eastmont Students Begin Return to Class

Eastmont School District recently began letting more students back into the classroom for in-person instruction, at least on a part time basis.

Superintendent Garn Christensen said progress has been slow and steady, starting with a few students returning over the summer for summer school. About 400 to 500 of the district's most vulnerable students have returned.

Christensen said, "Right now, we still just have a small number (of students). We were able to bring back an additional up to 5% in each building, depending on capacity."

Eastmont will next bring back its K-4 elementary students on a part time basis. The district has not set a hard date for their return, as staff is still waiting for infection rates to continue to drop, but they hope it will be in the near future.

"We're excited to see students on campus. It's giving us an opportunity to constantly re-think how we're doing things. Our goal as always is student and employee safety." explained Christensen, "At the same time that we're trying to make these changes, we're also getting constant new guidelines from the state. So it's been a bit of a challenge."

In fact, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction released more modifications on some safety requirements as recently as September 30th.

Currently, Douglas County is at 105.9 cases per 100,000 over 14 days as of October 1st, according to the Chelan Douglas Health District.