WAITSBURG—Waitsburg School District will be returning to in-person instruction on Monday, October 5.

The decision to reopen schools for in-person instruction, which many school and health department officials believed would wait until the end of the first quarter, was an ‘unexpected surprise’ to Superintendent Mark Pickel.

Superintendent Pickel announced the reopening on September 17, following a school board meeting. In a public notice, he stated the decision was made in collaboration with the faculty, school board, and the Walla Walla County Department of Health after careful revi...