HISD school decision due today

Parents must choose between in-person or virtual classes for when campuses reopen

About a week ago, Lucy Olsen had no idea where her five children would be going to school once Houston ISD plans to reopen campuses on Oct. 19.

On one hand, her three youngest students struggled to keep up with their online learning and could get in-person attention if they returned to Katherine Smith Elementary School near Inwood and Garden Oaks. On the other, Olsen had been hospitalized herself with COVID-19 in mid-June and struggled for weeks to break a fever and breathe normally. Her children weren’t infected when she struggled to recover then, but she worried they could catch the illness if the virus spread among students at school.

“It was a hard decision,” Olsen said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Olsen and parents across Houston ISD were given a few additional days to decide whether to send their students back to physical campuses or keep them home to continue virtual learning after Houston ISD officials extended their deadline for families to make the decision until Monday.

Interim Superintendent Grentia Lathan said in a video message to families the deadline was pushed back from Friday to give them “a couple of more days to think about your decision.”

Among families that registered a selection by the end of Thursday, about 39 percent chose in-person classes and 61 percent opted to remain onlineonly, HISD officials said. The district did not disclose how many families had made their choice as of Thursday.

The choice of in-person or online- only classes is valid for the entire school year, though families will have the option to

switch from virtual to face-toface instruction before the start of each six-week grading period. Students can change from inperson to online- only classes at any time.

HISD automatically will enroll students in face-to-face classes if no commitment form is submitted.

Concerns remain

The extended deadline comes as some families argue HISD has not provided enough information about staffing, scheduling and safety protocols once inperson classes resume.

Patricia Rehal, who has two students in HISD, said she was satisfied with the safety standards put in place at Frank Black Middle School and Wharton K-8 Dual Language School to prevent COVID-19 from spreading throughout the schools. Still, she said officials would not say what would happen if a student or staff member tested positive and potentially exposed others at those campuses.

“Will they shut down the school? Will they be virtual, and if they are, for how long?” Rehal said. “I’m in the middle of making my decision. It’s either their academics or the pandemic.”

Others have raised concerns about whether students will remain with their current teachers once in-person classes resume. District officials have neither announced teacher assignments nor released daily schedules that will be used in the first few weeks of on- campus instruction. Lathan said those decisions are dependent on the number of children electing to return to each campus.

HISD officials said a glitch last week caused some families that already confirmed their back-toschool choice to believe their decision did not register. However, district officials said the selections were recorded and urged those families to disregard an “empty” message seen on their online registration page.

Question of well-being

Olsen already made her choice. She’s sending all five of her children back to their classrooms so they can better concentrate on school and get extra help they may need.

Rehal said she probablywon’t register her decision until it’s due on Monday. She’s leaning toward sending them back. That way, if social distancing protocols fall by the wayside, she can switch them back to virtual learning. In-person instruction is worth a shot, she said, so long as the health risks are mitigated.

“Coronavirus is No. 1 — we’re afraid to continually spread it. But the other thing is to make sure my kids’ social and emotional well-being is there and is attended to,” Rehal said. “They need to be away from the house. They need to go and grow with other kids and teachers.”