The Yakima Health District has issued guidance allowing schools to begin a staggered return to schools. We are excited for the opportunity to bring back our East Valley students sooner than originally expected.

Attention East Valley Staff & Families, 

We continue to monitor our situation and are basing our return to hybrid or in-person instruction on the guidance we receive from the Yakima Health District. Based on preliminary discussions about the improvements that we’re seeing in the number of positive COVID cases in our county, we are hopeful that updated guidance will be issued from our local health authorities that allows us to start bringing more students back into our classrooms sooner than originally expected. We are currently working on a revised education plan with the Yakima Health District and plan to release our hybrid implementation model for our staff, parents and families in the next 10-14 days.  This plan will outline the logistics of bringing students back safely so that we are prepared to make a safe and smooth transition for our students, staff and families. We appreciate the patience and understanding that you have continued to show as we navigate this evolving situation.

On Monday, August 31, 2020, the USDA approved an extension to the waiver that allowed us to serve FREE MEALS to all East Valley kids ages 0-18 last spring. We will continue to offer our FREE BULK MEAL SERVICE this fall. Click the title for more details.

We have Chromebooks for every student in grades K-12 in the district. We also have hot spots available for families who do not have access to internet. Families that need a device for their child(ren) should attend the device checkout time indicated for their school(s), as shown below. If you have multiple children that attend different schools, you will need to attend the checkout time at each school for which a device is required.

We got a lot of great questions about virtual learning and the remote start to our 2020-2021 school year during our community forums last week. We added the answers to these questions on our website. Some topics include information on Chromebook checkout dates/times, meal services, technology support, school supplies, student/staff expectations, schedules and much more!

Want to know what a virtual kindergarten experience may look like this fall? Watch this live and interactive recording of Mrs. Nygard and students!

We are excited to share that at our school board meeting on Monday, August 17, 2020, our East Valley Board of Directors approved our 2020-2021 Reopening Plan. Please make sure to familiarize yourself with this plan and join our online community forums on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. for clarification to any unanswered questions.

Following Governor Inslee’s press conference yesterday, the Yakima County Health District made their official recommendations for a virtual start for schools in Yakima County. Given the guidelines outlined in the WA State Department of Health’s Decision Tree for Provision of In Person Learning Among K-12 Students at Public and Private Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic document, and this strong recommendation from our local health authorities, we would like to confirm that our East Valley Schools will begin 100% virtual with an enhanced distance learning model on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, as indicated in our released draft communication earlier this week.

As we move forward into our virtual start to the 2020-2021 school year, we want to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our families in supporting distancing learning at home. We will be offering a Parent PD series to make sure that we help equip our families with the digital tools they need in order to ensure that their kids are successful through this remote start.

Community members are invited to join East Valley School District Superintendent, John Schieche, and Assistant Superintendent, Russ Hill, during virtual chats over the next month to learn about how we're planning for the reopening of our schools and to ask questions/provide feedback.