July 28, 2020 4:30 p.m.

On Tuesday Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced new metrics to guide school district decisions about when it is safe to resume in-person instruction and when a transition to comprehensive distance learning is necessary.

Brown said the metrics will give public and private schools and communities the opportunity to make sound decisions based on the latest science and health data.

Brown said in order to resume in-person instruction in any form, including hybrid instruction models when students are only sometimes in the classroom, these conditions must be met:

County metrics which must be met three weeks in a row:

*10 or fewer cases per 100,000 population over 7 days

*Test positivity of 5 percent or less over 7 days

Statewide metrics must also be met three weeks in a row:

*Test positivity of 5 percent or less over 7 days

Brown said under some conditions, in-person instruction can resume only for K-3 students in remote and rural school districts with fewer than 100 students.

For districts where in-person instruction is occurring during the school year, officials must be ready to switch to comprehensive distance learning if the number of cases and the test positivity rate is increasing to a certain threshold.

A link to the recording of the Governor’s press conference is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1faDKrNohpU&feature=youtu.be

Additional information is posted as well: https://govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19