LA GRANDE — La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza on Thursday, Jan. 21, had good news to share at an evening virtual town hall.

Mendoza announced that because of changing COVID-19 state metrics and other factors, all students in grades seven through 12 in the La Grande School District will be able to receive in-person instruction starting Jan. 27. This will mark the first time all LGSD students in middle and high school will be back in school since the state closed Oregon schools to in-person instruction in mid-March of 2020 because of the pandemic.

The move announced Thursday comes after the school district began making in-person instruction available to all students in kindergarten through sixth grade earlier this month.

“It is very exciting to have everyone coming back. It is the next step to coming back to normal,” Mendoza said.

The school district will employ a hybrid model to educate the seventh- through 12th-grade students, who have been receiving instruction online via the school district’s Comprehensive Distance Learning program. The students will receive in-person instruction one day and then study outside of school the next day with materials from the school. They will be in the physical school every other day in cohorts based on where their names fall in the alphabet.

Half of the students, therefore, every day will receive in-person instruction, allowing the La Grande High School and La Grande Middle School to meet COVID-19 social distancing requirements. Mendoza said it will be important for students and parents to realize the days when students will not be taught in-person will not be days off.

“There is still work to do even if you are not on-site,” Mendoza said.

The superintendent said the school district is able to begin providing in-person instruction to all students due in part to Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to make her metrics for reopening advisory rather than mandatory.

“This has given us more local control for making decisions,” Mendoza said, noting educators across the state pushed for this.

Mendoza added that Brown wants to see more students in school receiving in-person instruction. He said she is encouraging all schools now open for in-person instruction to remain open if at all possible. He said he hopes his school district can continue making in-person instruction available to all students for at least the remainder of the school year.

“In my viewpoint, we should be able to continue,” Mendoza said.

He stressed though this will be possible only if students and staff remain vigilant about taking precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19. He noted face coverings will continue to be required of all students and staff during school days.

“It is not a choice,” Mendoza said.

He said the school district will be working closely with officials from the Center for Human Development, Grande Ronde Hospital and Union County to make sure the school district is operating safely. If an official from one of these agencies recommends the school district revert back to the Comprehensive Distance Learning model because of changes on the COVID-19 front, Mendoza said, he would seriously consider it.

He also said the school district’s teacher and staff unions have been excellent to work with during the effort to resume in-person instruction.

“They have been heroes,” said Mendoza, who noted unions in a number of other school districts in Oregon have not been as cooperative.