Evergreen Public Schools also announced their middle school hybrid schedule on Friday
VANCOUVER — Technical problems with a survey that went out to 4,665 middle school families in Vancouver Public Schools will delay the start of hybrid in-person classes by a week the district announced late Thursday.
The survey, which asked families to select one of three options for their students — in-person instruction two days a week, full remote, or online school through the district’s Vancouver Virtual Academy — went out Wednesday.
On its website, the district said their own internet service, along with the third-party survey provider, Qualtrics, experienced network connection issues, making it difficult for families to access. The survey also contained several text errors and broken links, the district said.
“We apologize for the error in the text of the grades 6-8 middle school parent survey yesterday,” read a statement on the district’s website posted Thursday afternoon. “As soon as we identified the error, we corrected and re-sent it.”
The survey was sent out to parents again Thursday with corrections in place, and families will have until Feb. 10 to make their selection. The previous deadline was Feb. 7.
That will push back the start of hybrid learning until Feb. 22 for students in 6th grade, while 7th and 8th grade students will return on March 1, the district said.
“We sincerely regret the confusion and frustration caused by the survey text error and the technical issues,” said the district. “We are committed to taking the necessary time to ensure a successful transition to hybrid learning for our middle school students and their families.”
Evergreen hybrid start dates announced
On Friday, Evergreen Public Schools announced their schedule for bringing middle school students back into classrooms.
Starting Feb. 18, 6th grade, Cohort A will return for orientation, followed by Cohort B on Feb. 19. Day two of orientation will be Feb. 22 and 23, respectively for the two groups.
Students in grades 7 and 8 will return for orientation on Feb. 25 or 26, depending on which group they are in.
All students who have selected in-person hybrid learning will have their first full day of classes starting March 1. The schedule for high school students will be announced after Clark County’s rate of COVID-19 cases drops to 200 per 100,000 people.
Families will continue to have the option of keeping their students in full remote learning if they prefer, said Evergreen Superintendent Mike Merlino.
“Following all the necessary safety protocols, our elementary schools have successfully welcomed students back in a Hybrid model, and we are excited to now open for our middle school students,” Merlino said in a statement released by the district. “We know how important it is to have our students back in school for in-person learning and appreciate the hard work our staff has been doing to make this possible.”
Elementary grade levels returned for hybrid in-person learning two days a week starting Jan. 19, and the district has stressed that there have been no known cases of COVID-19 transmission between students and staff since that time.
Battle Ground Public Schools also announced this week that their middle school hybrid learning schedule will start Feb. 22.
