Peninsula District Inviting High Schoolers Back Starting March 11

GIG HARBOR, WA — The Peninsula School District will be bringing high schoolers back into the classroom starting next month.

On March 11, ninth graders will be returning to the classroom with a hybrid-in person learning schedule. The hybrid schedule has the students divided into two cohort groups, 'A' and 'B'. Group A will have their first in-class school day on March 11, B will have theirs March 12.

Starting the following week, every student in the A group will return for a full day of classes on Mondays and Thursdays. Group B will be in-person on Tuesday and Fridays. The district says Wednesdays will remain home learning days for both groups, with shorter class sessions taken together remotely.

Parents can also opt to have their students remain fully remote through the rest of the school year if they so choose.

The district has not said when students in 10th grade or higher may return, though they say they are committed to getting as many students back into the classroom as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, the district has yet to announce return dates for most middle school students. Sixth graders will return to classes starting this Thursday — divided into A and B hybrid groups like the ninth graders — but there's no word yet on when seventh and eighth graders will be back in class.

Currently, the district is offering in-person instruction to:

• Developmental preschool
• Kindergarten
• 1st-5th grade
• Special education
• Select small groups