PENDLETON — The pandemic made attending public schools complicated, but the 2022 fall term is bringing a return to the norm for Oregon schools.

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines for schools that loosened previous guidance, and allowed school districts across America to take the lead on how to manage coronavirus within their schools.

“For the most part it’s what we finished with last year,” Jake Bacon, assistant superintendent of the Hermiston School District explained, illustrating how the district plans to use much of the same techniques they employed last fall going forward.

“This is as close to a normal school year as we’ve seen,” he said.

Pendleton School District Director of Special Programs Julie Smith explained that screenings, which have been standard procedure since before the pandemic, will continue when students don’t feel well. The district also will continue to make accommodations through the online learning platform Google Classroom for students should they fall ill and miss class.

Masking will be optional in the Hermiston, Milton-Freewater, Morrow, Pendleton and Umatilla school districts, with some schools continuing to offer optional masks to their students should they feel a desire to wear one. Neither Milton-Freewater nor Umatilla districts will be offering masks to their students this fall.

“We have a hand-washing emphasis, and support for masks being a personal choice. There is signage that you can see, mask OK, no mask OK … That’s all over the state,” Heidi Sipe, superintendent of the Umatilla School District explained, and in Umatilla schools, staff created the signs.

“Having those signs is helpful, we haven’t had a lot of problems with kids teasing around masks,” she said.

Morrow County School District also has placed a great emphasis on hand washing, labeling it the “most important action,” in its communicable disease management plan. The district plan also emphasizes a need to limit exposure, explaining that students who feel ill must stay home. Morrow County School District also purchased air purifiers for every classroom to “support better air ventilation in areas with multiple people present,” according to its plan.

Above all, each school district has expressed their intent to continue thorough cleaning and sanitation of classrooms that began when first combating the pandemic in 2020, with Hermiston School District even hiring an additional custodian at every building last year.

Hermiston School District, Morrow School District as well as the Umatilla School District will continue to offer on-site test kits for parents and students, while Pendleton School District offers at-home test kits on request. Milton-Freewater School District Superintendent Aaron Duff explained that although there will be no testing at Milton-Freewater schools, there is a clinic in town that offers testing.

Students will be returning to classrooms for their first day of classes in the Hermiston School District on Aug. 29 and in the Pendleton School District on Aug. 31.