Fort Worth-area parents upset about online-only school for 6 weeks plan Monday protest
Jennifer Edmondson Treger is sad and frustrated.
She, along with many other parents, wanted students to physically be back in school next month and they were shocked when Tarrant County’s top health authorities on Tuesday announced that classes would be online only for the most part for the first six weeks.
Treger said she’s worried about children who don’t have the connectivity or knowledge to access online learning. She’s worried about parents who can’t go back to work because their children are at home. And she’s worried about the children at risk of child abuse or malnutrition because they can’t go to the one safe space they know — school.
“Vulnerable children are getting left behind,” said Treger, a mother of three children who attend public school in Fort Worth. “Kids need to be in school.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of like-minded parents who believe this,” she said. “After all the finger pointing at all the different people, no one is claiming responsibility. This is the only way to get our voices heard for those children.”
So she and other like-minded parents plan to show up outside the Tarrant County Administration Building at 10 a.m. Monday — and likely again during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting — to protest. They hope to draw the attention of Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley.
“We’ve been trying to figure out who can overrule or have a say about how these kids need to be in school,” Treger said.
Whitley on Friday afternoon said he plans to meet with Treger and a small group at 10 a.m. Monday, but the rest of the people who show up will have to stay outside.
He said that Tuesday’s order came after at least three conference calls with dozens of local public, private and charter school officials.
“That decision was made in very close collaboration with the schools,” Whitley said. “Nobody was standing up, jumping and hollering and saying that it was wrong.”
He said school officials were supportive of the health officials’ decision. And the most resistance he saw was when a few districts supported the ability to apply for an exemption if schools presented their plan to keep people safe to the public health department.
“Many schools voiced opposition and asked for that to be removed,” Whitley said. “Nobody was screaming, standing up, saying, ‘You can’t do this and we’ve got to have the exemption.’
“For me to even attempt to get (health authorities to change their minds) would be me saying to the school districts that I don’t want to listen to them.”
Online vs in-person
Tarrant County’s top health authorities announced Tuesday that local public and non-religious private schools will only be able to provide online classes for the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year, until at least Sept. 28, because of the rising cases of coronavirus.
They said the goal is to keep students at home until several weeks after the Sept. 7 Labor Day holiday to avoid a potential spike in cases that could quickly spread through schools.
“My phone has never rung more about a single issue than parents in my district wanting their kids to go back on time,” state Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, said Friday.
He said he’s concerned about the children who won’t get to go to school that may suffer from child abuse or malnutrition at home. He’s worried about teen suicide and the fact that so many children don’t have the structure of going to school in their lives — and the parents who can’t go to work because their children are at home.
“This is an unprecedented decision to proactively shut schools down before they even open to buy 30 more days that won’t even change a thing,” Goldman said.
The Texas Education Agency said on July 17 that Texas schools could limit in-person school for the first four weeks of the 2020-21 school year, and potentially the next four weeks if their district grants a waiver, and get full state funding. Schools also can delay the start of the school year if that’s what is needed to keep students and teachers safe.
But they also listed a variety of safety measures geared to keep people safe at school.
“The state has promised whatever they can provide for the health and safety and welfare for every teacher, student and administrator in the schools that they would be able to provide,” Goldman said. “How is it going to be any different than by Sept. 28? We know what the cause (of coronavirus) is, we know how to best prevent it and the state has offered to provide whatever any school needs for every teacher, student and administrator.”
If students get to school, and coronavirus spreads, then Goldman said the health authority “has the right to close the school.”
Local order
A joint order calling for online schooling for public and non-religious private schools in Tarrant County was issued by Catherine Colquitt, Tarrant County’s public health authority and medical director; Cynthia Simmons, the local health authority and medical director in Arlington; and Steve Martin, the local health authority and medical director in Burleson.
This order, which runs through 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 27, does not affect religious schools. It says schools shouldn’t open for in-person schooling except for:
▪ Teachers and staff may conduct online classes from school if they use face coverings and social distance;
▪ School-sponsored events such as sports, band, choir and more may take place remotely or outdoors with social distancing, face coverings and other safety protocols in place;
▪ Special education may occur when necessary at schools with social distancing and face coverings; and
▪ Students who don’t have access to a computer or Internet access may learn at school.
The Fort Worth school district has announced plans to hold virtual town hall meetings on Monday, July 27, and Tuesday, July 28, for parents, teachers, students and others to ask district leaders about plans for the fall semester. Each event will be from 5 to 7 p.m. and will be on the FWISD Facebook page. The July 27 meeting is also available in Spanish at www.fwisd.org/27julio and the July 28 meeting in English is at www.fwisd.org/July28.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 4:02 PM.
