2 districts may delay class start
At least two local school districts that were scheduled to begin the academic year early next month are moving to postpone classes.
The San Antonio Independent School District would push the first day of school back one week, to Aug. 17, and start with fully remote instruction for the first three weeks. In-person classes would begin after Labor Day. The school board will vote on the changes Monday.
Harlandale ISD trustees also will decide Monday whether to postpone the first school day from Aug. 5 to Aug. 24.
Harlandale Superintendent Gerardo Soto hinted the district might offer online instruction only.
The changes are in response to a surge of coronavirus cases.
“We have been watching what’s happening in our community as cases have been rising,” SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez said Tuesday. “Safety is our first priority.”
Opposition has been growing to last week’s state mandate that schools must provide in-person learning five days a week for families that want it.
The rules give school districts some flexibility — including the option to go fully remote — for the first three weeks of school. After that, they would have to offer in-person instruction or risk losing state money.
In an interview on Houston TV, Gov. Greg Abbott said state Education Commissioner Mike Morath would be announcing plans
in the coming days to extend the time period for online-only classes.
In a phone call Tuesday with superintendents statewide, Morath addressed districts’ inclination to delay the start of school.
“If it makes sense in your local context to delay the start of the school year, there’s no law or rule that would prevent you from shifting things back,” Morath said.
He also said that “the public health guidance is likely to change as the health situation continues to evolve.”
He noted that while some parts of the state have few cases or none at all and can reopen schools with little risk of a surge, Bexar, Harris and Travis counties are seeing cases skyrocket.
As of Monday, 31 percent of SAISD families indicated they wanted to send their children back to school buildings, down from 87 percent in early June, Martinez said.
The state, which allocates funding to schools based on their average daily attendance, spelled out last month how to take attendance for children learning remotely.
Martinez and SAISD board President Patti Radle joined superintendents and board presidents from eight of the state’s largest urban school districts in urging Abbott to provide greater flexibility in counting attendance and deciding whether to open school buildings.
“To say we are required to have in-class instruction — no matter what the situation is — is not only reckless but unsafe for our students and our staff,” said Radle and the board presidents from the Aldine, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and Ysleta ISDs.
The Bexar County Education Coalition sent a letter to Abbott and Morath that echoes the concerns of the urban districts.
Signed by 19 San Antonio-area superintendents, the letter said if greater flexibility is not provided, “Our districts may need to make deep budget cuts and layoffs in the coming year.”
The San Antonio Coalition on School Reopening, led by teacher unions and which includes students and community organizations, called Tuesday for the first quarter, or nine weeks, of the school year to be taught fully remotely.
At the Tuesday news conference, Radle said SAISD would be guided in its decision-making by public health experts.
Although all students will be learning remotely in the first three weeks, Martinez said SAISD schools will be open during that time for essential services, including distribution of meals, laptops and tablets, special education testing and some work with migrant and English-learner students.
The period of virtual learning also gives the school district more time to plan in-person classes, transportation and sanitation procedures, Martinez said.
Teachers will be able to track which students are struggling to learn remotely and prioritize them for return to the classroom. Parents will be invited to tour buildings and see model classrooms. They’ll be given the choice between in-person and remote learning at the end of every nineweek quarter, Martinez said.
Given more flexibility, Martinez didn’t know how long he would recommend SAISD teach fully remotely, but said he wanted the ability to make that determination with local health professionals.
With the extra month Martinez is proposing, he said SAISD could safely plan to accommodate 25 to 50 percent of children in schools.
In SAISD, with nearly 49,000 students and high levels of concentrated poverty, many are better off learning in school buildings, Martinez said.
“We know, during this pandemic, our families are disproportionately being affected,” he said. “More of our families are losing their jobs. More of our families are struggling at home to pay their bills. … We want to make sure that our decisions don’t add to their stress.”
The proposed calendar eliminates one of the three “contingency” weeks SAISD last month added to next school year so students who fall behind or miss classes can come in for extra help.
The last day of school would remain June 18, 2021.
Bexar County’s two largest school districts, Northside and North East, are waiting on updated guidance from the Texas Education Agency before deciding on reopening plans. Both already had set their start dates for later in August.
Northside board President Carol Harle said district plans “challenge Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency’s mandates.”
Superintendent Brian Woods said he’s advocating for “better guidance” from the state.
“We’re also advocating that it come very soon because … we’re running out of time with regard to the start of school,” he said.
In NEISD, Castle Hills Elementary, the only traditional public school in Bexar County with a year-round calendar, will hold classes entirely online for its first three weeks, beginning July 21. As for other schools, Other North East schools also may see changes.
“Everything is on the table,” said Aubrey Chancellor, district spokeswoman.
About half of NEISD parents said in surveys two weeks ago they’d be comfortable sending their children back to school, but the situation is changing so quickly that the district is planning additional surveys, Chancellor said.
NEISD leaders want the power to make their own decisions based on how the health crisis is unfolding locally, she said.