The Hood River County School District is planning to begin to bring students back into classrooms on March 8.  The district made that announcement after a lengthy board meeting on Wednesday night that included some parents pushing for a reopening, and this week’s update of COVID-19 numbers for the County from the Oregon Health Authority put them in a position to move forward.  District Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn says they will use a phased approach and partial days of on-site learning, with kindergarteners and first graders returing March 8, second and third grades coming back on March 15, grades 4, 5, 6, and 9 returning on March 29, and the remaining middle and high school grade on April 5.  Polkinghorn notes the phasing will help train the youngest students in the protocols that will be involved in returning to classrooms.  The district will host online information sessions on reopening this coming Thursday in English at 5 p.m. and in Spanish at 6 p.m.  Go to hoodriver.k12.or.us for log-in information.