As kindergartners returned to classes full time this week, Adam Swinyard liked what he saw.

During a visit Tuesday to Hamblen Elementary, the superintendent of Spokane Public Schools took in the reassuring sight of socially distanced desks, directional tape on the floors and jugs of hand sanitizer in every corner.

Even better, according to Swinyard, everyone seemed happy to be there.

“The feedback from teachers and parents has been positive,” Swinyard said after his visit.

Of course, many others are upset that their kids aren’t back in class. But you can’t please everyone, a lesson that’s being absorbed every day at every school district in the Inland Northwest.

It’s only mid-October, but back-to-school in the Inland Northwest is playing out like the “Tortoise and the Hare” fable.

And while there is no winner in this game, districts that began the year with distance learning only appear to be losing a lot less, in terms of illness.

While other districts, notably Coeur d’Alene and Mead, raced back to in-person learning and now have hundreds of students in quarantine, Spokane and Central Valley are taking it slow and steady.

That’s too slow for some, because the next step – bringing back more students – probably won’t happen until Nov. 7 at the earliest.

On Wednesday, school board members are scheduled to discuss the scenario for returning first-graders to the classroom. Most likely, it would take another week to implement any plan resulting from that discussion.

“But what we don’t want to do is move back,” board President Jerrall Haynes said. “We don’t want to do that to our families.”

Even before classes began on Sept. 14, Swinyard and his staff vowed to follow the guidance of Dr. Bob Lutz and the Spokane Regional Health District.

Despite fluctuating metrics, that hasn’t changed.

“We are continuing to have conversations with Dr. Lutz, and we’re watching our data really closely,” Swinyard said.

According to its weekly dashboard posted on Friday, the district had 10 confirmed cases, with 45 people in quarantine.

At Central Valley, which like Spokane is moving cautiously back to in-person learning, the numbers are comparable: seven positive tests and 55 people in quarantine.

That compares favorably with Coeur d’Alene, which began the year in a blended model, moved to full in-person learning on Oct. 5 and now is pivoting back in the face of a COVID-19 surge.

As of Tuesday, 22 staff and students have tested positive in the last two weeks, resulting in almost 400 people quarantined.

Mead also has seen higher numbers. Tuesday’s dashboard showed 16 positive cases, and 189 in quarantine. Of those, 88 quarantines stemmed from close contacts at Mead High School and another 40 at Mt. Spokane High School.

COVID also has struck the district’s youngest learners, with three students testing positive and 31 being quarantined at Prairie View Elementary, and another 15 at Shiloh Hills.

Mead’s back-to-school model includes full in-person learning for all elementary students and a hybrid model at the secondary level.

“We are continuing to work closely and coordinate with the Spokane Regional Health District to keep our communities safe,” district spokesman Todd Zeidler said Tuesday.