PORT ANGELES — Gov. Jay Inslee says President Donald Trump’s comments earlier this week pressuring governors to open schools in the fall were “hogwash” and he said the state will not be bullied into making potentially unsafe decisions during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has argued that some states are keeping schools closed not because of the risks from COVID-19 but for political reasons and he threatened to hold back federal money if school districts didn’t bring back students in the fall.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Thursday that rather than holding back funding, the administration may decide to allow families to use funds elsewhere if their local public schools “refuse to open.”

In May, the CDC recommended a platform of social distancing policies for schools: desks at least six feet apart and facing the same direction, lunch in classrooms, staggered arrival times, cloth masks for staff and daily temperature screenings for everyone.

On July 2 the Port Angeles School District Board of Directors approved a hybrid model for opening schools in the Fall with part-time in-person and part-time remote learning. Students in one group will attend school on Mondays and Thursdays. A second group will attend school on Tuesdays and Fridays. The other days would be online learning.

District spokesperson Jennifer Sperline says that is currently the plan barring any new developments.

A similar model has been proposed by Sequim School officials along two others for consideration. Superintendent Rob Clark says he expects to have those options narrowed down for a final vote of the School Board’s approval around July 22.

In the meantime, Governor said he is meeting with state schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal next week to further discuss options for the new school year.