‘Uncertainty’ is top lesson for summer school classes

The prospects of widespread in-person summer school for Houston-area children appear increasingly dim, creating another barrier to catching up students falling behind during the novel coronavirus pandemic, multiple education leaders said in recent days.

Superintendents throughout the region and state have started signaling that in-person instruction would only resume this summer for a small number of the neediest students — if children can return to campuses at all. The state’s secondand seventh-largest districts — Dallas and Katy ISDs, respectively — already announced in recent days that all summer school classes will take place virtually this year.

With schools across the state closed since midMarch due to the pandemic, education leaders have looked to summer school as an opportunity to support the state’s neediest students, including those who lack the technology needed to participate in online learning.

The continued outbreak of the novel coronavirus, however, likely will dash those hopes. While state officials have not yet banned in-person classes this summer, safety concerns for staff and students persist.

“That’s why our summer school is, most likely, not going to be face-to-face,” said Alief ISD Superintendent HD Chambers, whose district has not yet announced summer school plans. “And that’s why we’re still working on what the 2020-21 school year might look like, particularly in August and September.”

Traditionally, districts use June and July to offer remedial classes for students at risk of failing to advance grades or graduate, and dual-credit opportunities to high school students.

In the first few weeks of the pandemic’s arrival in Houston, several superintendents said they hoped to offer summer school to more children than usual. In Clear Creek ISD, where roughly 2,000 students attended summer school last year, Superintendent Greg Smith said buildings would be “more crowded than ever before” in June and July if not for social distancing requirements.

To date, only a few large Texas districts have formally announced their schedules for summer school.

Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said Monday that there is “no way we can do it face-toface” as he announced plans for virtual summer school.

Katy ISD officials, who declined an interview request this week, said they planned to hold all summer classes online “due to social distancing guidelines and our efforts to minimize unnecessary health and safety risks.”

Clear Creek ISD, the Houston area’s 11th largest district, also announced online-only summer school.

Other districts remain hopeful for some form of inperson instruction this summer — though none of the region’s large districts have announced such plans.

Houston ISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan, who leads the state’s largest district, said administrators have not yet formalized their approach to summer school.

In Fort Bend ISD, the region’s fourth-largest district, Superintendent Charles Dupre said administrators are discussing in-school support for students receiving special education services. He cautioned that there remains “a lot of uncertainty around this,” with a decision likely made in the next couple of weeks.

“We believe some of those students have lost a lot of ground, and we need to support them and their parents by getting them back in the classroom as soon as possible,” Dupre said. “Extended school year is something we do every year anyway, and so we think if it’s possible to do that in small groups with proper social distancing and proper (personal protective equipment), we’re going to do our best to put on some type of program for those kiddos in June and July.”

A national poll in late April by NPR, PBS and Marist College, as well as a state-specific poll by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune in mid-April, found widespread support for closing public schools in the first several weeks of the pandemic. The polling organizations did not ask about support for extending closures into the summer and beginning of the 2020-21 school year.