UMATILLA COUNTY — Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to make the school’s COVID-19 metrics advisory rather than mandatory moved the reopening goalposts up again, but it’s unlikely schools will execute a full-scale reopening by the governor’s Feb. 15 deadline.

In an upcoming column in the Hermiston Herald, Hermiston School District Superintendent Tricia Mooney wrote about some of the barriers that remain to returning to school.

“However, creating a ‘new normal’ isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. As a school district we have been planning since March how to safely return our 5,500 students to the classroom while continuing to protect against the spread of COVID-19,” she wrote.

Although Mooney’s editorial was light on specifics, some students and parents are pushing for swift action.

About 20 students and parents stood on the street corner outside the Hermiston School District offices on Monday, Jan. 4, holding signs splotched with rainwater encouraging the district to return students to the classroom as quickly as possible. They were soon greeted by Superintendent Mooney, who came outside to thank them for their support and let them know there was “no greater priority” for the district than safely bringing them back.

“We miss you guys more than ever,” she told the students in the group. “We miss seeing your faces.”

District administrators were working on a plan, she said, and encouraged them to be on the lookout for surveys regarding reopening. She also encouraged everyone to reach out to her by email with questions, and said she would provide answers as soon as she had them.

Students at the protest said they missed seeing friends and participating in extracurricular activities, but they were also concerned about what they felt was a reduced quality to their education this year.

Nick Purswell, a sophomore and three-sport athlete at Hermiston High School, said not only was it frustrating to miss out on opportunities to play sports, but he also worries about what the months of online learning will do to students’ grade point average and ability to take advanced classes.

“It’s really a disservice to those who are trying to set themselves up for success,” he said. “If you’re taking AP Biology, how are you supposed to learn that through a computer screen?”

Ashley Perkins was standing on the corner with her daughters, Emma Perkins, a sophomore, and Kayla Perkins, a sixth-grader. She said she wanted to let the school district know her family supported getting kids back into the classroom as soon as they can.

Emma said she looked forward to being able to form more of a relationship with her teachers, and be more engaged in class.

“It’s really hard to find the motivation to do school work,” she said of distance learning.

Mooney echoed other administrators by pointing out that although the governor has removed the statistical barrier to reopening, many of the state’s social distancing rules remain the same. That means districts’ revised reopening plans will still have to account for reduced school bus capacity, teachers that can only interact with a maximum of three cohorts per day and class sizes that allow for 6 feet of social distancing between students.

After Brown made her announcement, Pendleton Superintendent Chris Fritsch sent out a letter on Dec. 30, 2020, that sketched out what the district could do with wider latitude while tempering expectations.

Fritsch wrote that the district is considering bringing back elementary school students for half-days before Feb. 15, a move that would expand in-person education while working around Pendleton’s class size limitations. Fritsch was less optimistic about bringing back secondary students, but he added the district would continue to advocate for a change in the rules.

Fritsch said the district plans to unveil a more formal plan after its Tuesday, Jan. 5, school board meeting.

In a Jan. 4 interview, Athena-Weston Superintendent Laure Quaresma said her district’s small class sizes means the district is in good position to bring back its students at the K-5 level.

Quaresma said staff and school board members will continue to discuss their options through the end of the week. At the secondary level, the district is looking at splitting its student body and hosting them for in-person class on alternating days.

But Quaresma added the district didn’t want to finalize its plan until it got more guidance from the Oregon Department of Education later this month, given how often state rules have changed in the 2020-21 school year.

“Every time you get something solved, you get something new,” she said.

As schools weigh their options, cases are surging throughout the county. On Jan. 4, Umatilla County Public Health reported more than 200 cases from over the weekend.

And although the metrics were just made advisory, they’re still being calculated and tracked. In his letter, Fritsch noted that Umatilla County’s late December 2020 case rates were “648% over the advisory level for reopening elementary schools and 1,296% over the advised level for secondary schools.”

Once schools reopen, the next challenge schools will need to solve is how to stay open. If schools start to experience outbreaks, education may revert to an online-only format.