Students at Gonzaga Preparatory School will be in classrooms one day each week this fall, the Catholic high school announced Tuesday.

In a letter to families, President Michael Dougherty said that after consultation with the Spokane Regional Health District, the school approved a phased approach that will give families the option of fully digital instruction, or starting the year with in-person instruction in small groups, one day per week.

However, on Wednesday, Spokane Regional Health District Officer Dr. Bob Lutz said that the district didn’t approve the G-Prep plan; that in fact, he saw only a few slides on a Power Point presentation.

The move is a response to a recent survey in which almost 80% of families indicated a strong desire for their student to receive in-person instruction.

“Relationships are at the heart of our educational mission,” Dougherty told The Spokesman-Review.

“It was critical for us to begin the year with a safe environment for our students to have a personal connection to their teachers and classmates.”

That connection will happen by allowing a maximum of 25% of the student body into classes each day, and by reducing class sizes to an average of six.

Gonzaga Prep has an enrollment of about 875 students, which means that roughly 200 would be on campus on any given day.

Each grade level will be divided into four cohorts in order to decrease potential exposure to COVID-19 while minimizing the impact of any required quarantine measures.

“If the school is successful in preventing COVID spread in this initial phase, we will work to incrementally expand students’ access to in-person instruction,” Dougherty said in the letter to families.

“Alternatively, if our experience demonstrates that we are unable to prevent or minimize COVID outbreaks and experience disruption to our in-person instruction, then we will be prepared to move to fully digital learning until we are confident we can ensure the health and safety of our students and our faculty/staff.”

Parents who opt for in-person instruction will be required to sign an acknowledgement of risk and their students must sign an acknowledgement of new school rules.

The school also announced it would rebate 5% of tuition.

“This tuition rebate recognizes that some of our programs will be limited for part or all of the school year,” Dougherty said.