Hannah Higgins has rolled with the punches during her second pandemic-wracked school year. Now, the 16-year-old high school junior says she鈥檚 exhausted, and scared.
She first adapted to learning online, , where she met up with teachers and classmates just two days a week. This month, things changed again, as Bend-La Pine Schools became the first large district in Oregon to resume in-person instruction for all grade levels, five days a week. Higgins describes each day back inside Bend鈥檚 Summit High School as a kind of endurance test.
鈥淚 question how I used to be able to go to school every day, and not be tired by the end,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just tell myself: I need to get through the day. I鈥檝e done this before. I can do it again.鈥�
Her return to a high school with around 1,700 students comes as her home county is seeing a record-breaking surge in virus cases, with daily positive case counts as high as they鈥檝e ever been, stressing hospital capacity for the region. ,鈥� triggering strict limits on social gatherings, restaurants, businesses, and places of worship.
Still, the packed hallways at Higgins鈥� high school will continue.
Education officials hope to keep Bend-La Pine Schools fully open during the crisis by enforcing strict health protocols, quarantine requirements, and and older at high schools throughout Central Oregon. The county鈥檚 schools will stay all-in on in-person learning, as long as few virus cases are directly linked to in-school activities, according to interim Superintendent Lora Nordquist.
鈥淲hen I see districts that are so reluctant to bring their kids back, I鈥檓 hoping at the end of this year, we can say: 鈥榊ou can do this. You need to do this,鈥欌�� Nordquist said.
The state鈥檚 top education official is also hopeful about Bend-La Pine鈥檚 example.
鈥淲e are continuing to show that with the protocols adhered to, that we鈥檙e still not seeing the transmission on school sites,鈥� Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill said.
Compared to last month in Deschutes County, the rate of youth 19 and under who are testing positive for COVID-19 has more than tripled, according to data provided by the county鈥檚 health department. It鈥檚 not clear if that sharp increase is related to school openings or other activities, like social gatherings.
It鈥檚 difficult to document school-based transmission because a school exposure typically isn鈥檛 the only place of exposure, Emily Freeland said, a branch director for the county鈥檚 COVID response team. On campus, students often don鈥檛 know exactly who they were around, and for how long, so it鈥檚 up to school staff to keep track of close contacts. Freeland said the investigations more often point toward after-school activities, where families get close, don鈥檛 mask and spread the virus.
鈥淧eople are carpooling, they鈥檙e playing sports, they鈥檙e having sleepovers. There鈥檚 all these social activities, youth groups, the list goes on and on and on,鈥� she said.
The public health department started offering free, confidential COVID testing at school sites after an outbreak in February shut down a high school鈥檚 hybrid learning program. A house party led to more than 40 Summit High students testing positive.
鈥淣ow, there are vaccinations going on at school sites, too. Central Oregon high schools are the first in the state to do this, starting this week,鈥� Freeland said.
As the teen vaccinations begin to roll out, parents and students at some of the Bend district鈥檚 largest schools describe a flood of emails starting the same way: 鈥淭his is an informational letter鈥� a person associated with your student鈥檚 school has been diagnosed with COVID-19.鈥�
But the scope of transmission inside school communities is unclear.
One parent who asked not to be identified told OPB they received six different notices in the past week about cases at Pacific Crest Middle School, while the school data showed just three cases at that school in the last 28 days.
A school district spokesperson could not immediately explain the disparity.
Higgins, the Summit High junior, said it鈥檚 all taken a toll on her mental health.
鈥淓very day, you never know when you鈥檙e going to get a call saying that you have to miss school,鈥� she said.
In classes, she sits three feet from her peers, following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But, if one of the classmates tests positive, close contact for self-quarantine is considered six feet, also per CDC advice.
Nordquist told the school board Tuesday that 58 recent cases among students led to about 700 of their peers being placed in some form of quarantine. As, those in isolation comprise around 5% of the entire student body.
The superintendent initially told OPB that the district wasn鈥檛 tracking the exact number of students sent home.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question it鈥檚 disruptive,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t could be 15 or 20 students who are impacted by one positive case.鈥�
In elementary grades, one close contact means the whole class switches back to distance learning, keeping the same teacher. But older students with more complicated schedules don鈥檛 flip to online when they isolate. They鈥檙e given assignments to work on their own.
Michelle Mattingly got a call to keep her teen son at home just two days after he went back to classes full time.
鈥淚 am 100% for all-in [reopening],鈥� she said. 鈥淭he irony here is that at least with hybrid, there was some stability, one-on-one instruction, and access to an actual teacher.鈥�
Oregon鈥檚 guidance around how to run schools safely in the pandemic has changed about a dozen times since it came out in July, according to state Education Department Director Gill.
鈥淚t would be absolutely possible for the guidelines to be revised,鈥� Gill said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to districts to decide what options they offer quarantined youth for learning.鈥�
Bend-La Pine dedicated an administrator, Paul Dean, to be its COVD czar. He works with dozens of staff districtwide to implement the state鈥檚 Ready Schools Safe Learning Guidance, as it changes, or doesn鈥檛 play out as expected.
鈥淚t leads to an exhaustion,鈥� Dean said, 鈥淏ecause you鈥檙e constantly having to think and create new plans. You can never get into an established routine because there鈥檚 always some tweaking of plans that we need to do, to make sure that the safety of our community is paramount.鈥�
Pictures of teens rubbing shoulders in the hallways at Summit High recently surfaced on social media, sparking ridicule and outrage by some parents, . Dean said the district responded by staggering releases from class. Though, that can create other bottlenecks.
鈥淭he problem solving seems to be continuous. As soon as you鈥檝e solved one problem, something else pops up,鈥� Dean said.
Lunches at the large high schools are especially troublesome, he said, because on each campus more than 1,000 kids go at the same time. The primary concern is to keep everyone distanced and moving, so students aren鈥檛 crowded together for very long, Dean said.
For the class of 2021, how graduation will look is up in the air. There are no plans for a prom night, Dean said.
But some families are rejecting the notion that the pandemic should alter school functions any longer. Social media posts suggest some parents and students plan to host their own prom outside school grounds. An unofficial prom invitation recently showed up in the 4,600-member Redmond, Oregon Facebook group.
鈥淢e and my mom are throwing a prom for juniors and seniors this year,鈥� went the post. 鈥淚f you are a parent of a junior or senior at any high school please spread the word!鈥�
Nordquist, the district superintendent, said students are by and large willing to follow the rules at sanctioned school activities, but parents can be another story.
鈥淲here we鈥檝e had the biggest struggle is spectators at athletic events, [where] you have to be masked. There have been people so vociferous in their objections, that we鈥檝e eventually had to trespass them,鈥� Nordquist said.
Families who don鈥檛 want their students to follow school safety rules are referred to comprehensive distance learning, she added.
Meanwhile, health officials in the county endure another wave of sick patients. On Tuesday, St. Charles Medical Center reported nearing its bed capacity, with 30 COVID patients.
鈥淭he average age of the patient hospitalized in the ICU with COVID-19 is 13 years younger in March and April than it was in January and February,鈥� .
Copyright 2021 Oregon Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit .
