Wrangell one of four school districts to stay open all year

Wrangell is one of four school districts in the state to remain open all year through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to school officials.

On top of providing a quality education, Alaska's more than 50 school districts have been tasked with keeping their students healthy during the pandemic. Wrangell is one of the few to accomplish this without any pandemic-forced closures, said Special Education Teacher and Teacher's Association President Ryan Howe.

"Just about all the other schools, they either had temporary closures or got to distance [learning] because of teacher absences or something like, or staff shortages," Howe said. "So even the ones that didn't shut down still had extended vacations to accommodate."

The four school districts include Wrangell, the Southwest Region, Yakutat and Cordova. Howe said that the Matanuska-Susitna School District has remained open district-wide, but has closed down several schools due to COVID cases.

"Wrangell's in good shape," Howe said. "We haven't had to close, or extend breaks, or do anything."

Wrangell's success in continuing to educate students and staying open is thanks to strong safety precautions, Howe said, in addition to the school district being cautious, and outstanding help from parents.

"The parents of our students have been really outstanding," he said. "The kids come in and they're ready to rock-and-roll. The kids are prepared and ready, it has been seamless because of that."

Evergreen Elementary Lead Teacher and Assistant Principal Jenn Miller-Yancey said the SMART Start plan, which the district put together before reopening for this school year, was a result of months of work. The plan outlined how the schools would operate safely through the pandemic and some of the changes to daily activities to expect, among other items.

It has taken a lot of volunteer effort and training to put together, she said, but the safety guidelines have worked so far.

"We've stuck to the plan," Miller-Yancey said. "The kids and the families have been amazing. Everybody's keeping their kids home when they don't feel good, to the best of our knowledge anyway. They're really trying to work with us. It's a team effort. Making it to the 100th day of school was the best," she said of Feb. 11, which Evergreen School celebrated.

A copy of Wrangell's SMART Start plan can be found on the district's website, http://www.wpsd.us.

"Even if we were to shut down tomorrow, knock on wood, for an extended period of time ... even if that happened the advantage that our students have built in, based on the amount of time they've had in the classroom, will mean that I would expect their achievement to be greater than the state average," Howe said.