BOISE — Caldwell School District joins Boise and Nampa for a virtual start to school. Most of the districts have added remote learning into the equation in some capacity, whether it be a hybrid model with split schedules or full distance learning. This, as others have pushed back their start date.
"We felt it was in the best interest of our students and staff to open in red, which is online," said the spokesperson for Nampa School District Kathleen Tuck.
Boise School District is doing the same.
"There's just no good choice, but I do believe the weight of the evidence supports us waiting until CDH and the medical professionals we're consulting with tell us it's safe to bring kids back face to face," said Boise School District trustee Alicia Estey.
A few private and charter schools start the year off in person, but learning will look like this for many local schools, most recently the Caldwell school district deciding to go online.
"Hoping things would get better in our community, but they just haven't," said Caldwell School District spokesperson Allison Westfall.
Given the amount of community spread, the Caldwell trustees approved the district starting in the red phase, which is remote learning.
"We are using some of our COVID federal money and have purchased Chromebooks," said Westfall.
Caldwell students start august 27 and will be online through at least the first week in October.
Here's a closer look at what other districts are doing:
Nampa School District:
Nampa starts virtually for at least two weeks. They start august 24 and could transition to a hybrid model if the community spread goes down.
Boise School District:
Boise students are remote until September 8. The district previously announced its decision to offer two separate schooling choices — an online school option and a virtual school option, which collaborates with their in-person schools.
Vallivue School District:
Vallivue enters in a hybrid model. Elementary students are remote on Mondays and then in school Tuesday through Friday. High school students will be on a split schedule with half the population in school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other half Wednesdays and Fridays. Remote learning will take up the other days of the week.
West Ada School District:
West Ada delays its start until September 8. It's unclear how they'll resume at that time, but it's likely to be in-person or a hybrid model. The district also offers a virtual schoolhouse option, which is an entirely separate online school.
Kuna School District:
Kuna plans for a hybrid model. Its board of trustees is meeting August 11 to decide if they'll push back their start date to give teachers extra planning time.
