{"id":1384,"date":"2020-03-12T16:38:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T00:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/wellman\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2020-09-15T22:54:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T22:54:42","slug":"a-statement-from-sen-wellman-on-school-closures-in-king-pierce-and-snohomish-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/2020\/03\/12\/a-statement-from-sen-wellman-on-school-closures-in-king-pierce-and-snohomish-counties\/","title":{"rendered":"A statement from Sen. Wellman on school closures in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) released the following statement today regarding Gov. Jay Inslee\u2019s decision to close public schools in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Wellman serves as chair of the Senate Early Learning &amp; K-12 Education Committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur number one concern is keeping our students, staff and their families safe. We know many people who attend or work in our schools have compromised immune systems, existing medical conditions, elderly relatives and other concerns. We\u2019re keeping those concerns in mind as we move forward. We\u2019re also taking into account the financial and academic concerns that school closures cause.<\/p>\n<p>In the last several weeks, we\u2019ve been working closely with the Governor\u2019s Office, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and local school districts to anticipate their needs and ensure that we have policies in place to lessen the burdens placed on students and school employees.<\/p>\n<p>As adequate access to healthcare is one of our best tools for addressing this pandemic, we have approved <a href=\"http:\/\/lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov\/biennium\/2019-20\/Pdf\/Amendments\/House\/6189-S.E%20AMH%20BERG%20PRIN%20662.pdf\">a measure<\/a> that allows school employees to maintain health insurance eligibility for the remainder of the school year during the COVID-19 state of emergency, even if the employees would otherwise lose eligibility due to a school closure or changes in school operations. The idea is that all school employees who had insurance prior to this emergency \u2013 including hourly employees \u2013 will maintain that coverage.<\/p>\n<p>We have also adopted <a href=\"http:\/\/lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov\/biennium\/2019-20\/Pdf\/Amendments\/Senate\/2965.E%20AMS%20WELL%20S7632.3.pdf\">a policy<\/a> that gives the State Board of Education the authority to establish an emergency waiver program to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on high school graduations. Students who were on track to graduate prior to the governor declaring a state of emergency on Feb. 29 could receive a waiver.<\/p>\n<p>Again, our priority is helping our communities stay healthy. I thank the Governor, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Legislature for taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously and taking steps to help our state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) released the following statement today regarding Gov. Jay Inslee\u2019s decision to close public schools in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Wellman serves as chair of the Senate Early Learning &amp; K-12 Education Committee. \u201cOur number one concern is keeping our students, staff and their families safe. We know many people who attend or work in our schools have compromised immune systems, existing medical conditions, elderly relatives and other concerns. We\u2019re keeping those concerns in mind as we move forward. We\u2019re also taking into account the financial and academic concerns that school closures cause. In the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A statement from Sen. Wellman on school closures in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties - Sen. 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We know many people who attend or work in our schools have compromised immune systems, existing medical conditions, elderly relatives and other concerns. We\u2019re keeping those concerns in mind as we move forward. We\u2019re also taking into account the financial and academic concerns that school closures cause. In the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/2020\/03\/12\/a-statement-from-sen-wellman-on-school-closures-in-king-pierce-and-snohomish-counties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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