Gov. Brown announces loosened school COVID-19 metrics for Oregon

The new metrics, announced amid record high case rates in Oregon, will make it easier for schools to bring students back into classrooms.

Jackson county is settin reporters have been digging into what these new metrics are and when schools in our region plan to reopen.

Newswatch 12's tylder ridgle is going to be explaining what these new metrics are.

Brett taylor spoke with the largest school district in our area -- the medford school district about what this means wswatch 12's tyler ridgle.

Tyler you attended the governor's news conference the oregon department of education and the oregon health authority created a metrics model for schools to determine where they fall among 4 columns based on county case rates.

Schools in smaller counties will review cases by the number of people infected in its county.

The columns break down to on-site, on-site and distance learning, transition, and distance learning.

Schools will be required to review coronavirus cases over a two week period.

If a school falls in the transition column it is recommended that school authorities consult with the local public health authority on how to move forward.

School authority must also keep their operational blueprint up to date on the o-d-e website and submit weekly status reports.

Depending on where a school lands on the metric scale -- students could find themselves either closer to onsite learing or distance learning.

Governor kate brown says her focus is to get students back in the classroom with the assistance of the community.

Whether we have children or not doubling down on our efforts to reduce transmition of the virus.

And the basic tools that we have are the same things i've been talking about for several weeks now.

Governor brown added limiting social interactions around the holidays can also reduce the spread of the virus.

A county-by-county evaluation.

Including jackson county where case positiveity rates have been rising.

Continuing our team coverage tonight, we're going now to newswatch 12's brett taylor who spoke with central point school district about where they stand in regards to the new metcentral point schoolt feels optimistic about the new metric changes and when they can reopen.

The central point school district superintendent said today that they are prepared to go back to in-person learning or a hybrid method as soon as they meet the positivity rate within the new revised two week look back.

And if case positivity rates do drop they do expect that kids could be back in school in the near future.

"although currently in jackson county we are seeing this spike in covid cases that will keep us from having kids in school full time in the immediate few weeks i think we have hope that those metrics will allow us to bring kids back hopefully in the next few months."

The most recent data from jackson county health officials show that the county's positivity rate stands at