A little over 3 weeks ago, @waOSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal and I closed schools across the state to keep our students, educators and their families, safe.

Today, I’m making the hard decision to extend the closure order through the end of the school year. 1/5

To families: I know that it’ll be difficult to find a new normal at home.

But we must put the health and safety of our community first.

The past three weeks have shown that we can rise to the challenge. 2/5

To educators: I know this is no small feat. We have 150 years of experience with our traditional learning model. We can’t make that up overnight.

I’m asking our students and our educators to be flexible. We all have our students’ best interests at heart. 3/5

I’m encouraged by the work our school districts are already doing, from serving over 2 million meals in three weeks to providing childcare for people working at the frontline of our state’s response. 4/5

We must continue to be proactive in our response to COVID-19. Listening to, and acting on, the best available science will continue to save lives.

We’ll get through this together.

Stay home. Stay healthy. #WeGotThisWA 5/5