What we know about COVID-related school closures in Fort Worth, Tarrant County region
As community COVID transmission continues to spike with the spread of the omicron variant in Texas, area schools are already seeing the effects.
Some North Texas school districts have closed entirely or canceled classes at select campuses due to increasing positive cases, while others are experiencing bus route delays caused by driver vacancies. Clay Robison, public affairs specialist with the Texas State Teachers Association, told the Star-Telegram that teachers union members are experiencing burnout from staffing shortages.
Fort Worth ISD
As of Friday morning, Fort Worth ISD reported 1,014 active student cases in its COVID dashboard, which was started in August 2021.
January marked the highest number of employees with positive cases since August. As of Friday morning around 7 a.m., Fort Worth reported 975 positive employee cases among a total of 2,473 employees exposed to COVID this month. The dashboard is updated throughout the day and can be found under “FWISD COVID-19 Reports” on the school district’s website.
Arlington ISD
Arlington school district reported 269 active daily student cases and 55 active daily staff cases in its COVID dashboard as of Friday morning. According to the district’s website, the dashboard is updated each day by 5 p.m.
The data on Friday shows a slight decrease in daily cases from Thursday, which had 317 positive student and 97 staff cases.
Mansfield ISD
Mansfield ISD announced Thursday all its schools would be temporarily closed through Tuesday, Jan. 18. According to a statement, students will not have to log on for virtual learning.
On Friday morning, Mansfield ISD reported 825 active student cases and 269 active staff cases in its COVID dashboard.
“We intentionally chose a 5-day break to allow staff who are currently out sick to recover and to minimize the possibility of more community spread of the virus,” Superintendent Kimberley Cantu said in the statement. “MISD’s custodial staff will use this time to implement our COVID-19 deep cleaning protocol at all of our facilities.”
Cantu said the high number of staff out sick along with a shortage of substitute teachers put a high strain on day-to-day operations, making it impossible to provide a safe, productive learning environment for students and staff.
Six Mansfield Independent School District elementary schools had already started temporary closures Thursday with plans to be shut down through Monday. The schools that were initially closed were Janet Brockett, Louise Cabaniss, Judy Miller, Martha Reid, Tarver Rendon and Roberta Tipps.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD
As of Friday morning, HEB ISD reported 405 new positive student cases for the week of Jan. 10-16. There were 26 new cases reported for the week of Jan. 3-9. According to the school district website, HEB ISD’s COVID dashboard does not reflect positive cases during winter break.
There were 119 new staff cases for the week of Jan. 10-16, with the most reported at L.D. Bell High School at 15 new cases.
Birdville ISD
Birdville ISD will be closed on Tuesday, Jan. 18, and Wednesday, Jan. 19, to help mitigate the spread of the virus, school officials announced Friday. The district resume normal operations on Thursday, Jan. 20. During this closure, no remote learning will take place. The instructional calendar will not change.
At the discretion of the fine arts and athletic directors, high school extra- and co-curricular activities can continue as planned if staff are available to continue those activities. All activities involving middle school and elementary students and staff are canceled through Jan. 19
Birdville ISD will revise the district’s COVID-19 dashboard to provide daily data concerning positive cases to better inform families beginning Jan. 20. In addition, the district is working with TEA to begin free COVID testing for BISD students. Information regarding registration, locations, and times will be forthcoming as soon as resources are made available by the state. Currently, in-district testing is available for BISD staff.
Birdville ISD’s COVID dashboard, which is compiled by week, reported 337 new confirmed student cases for the week of Jan. 8-15. There were 95 confirmed student cases between Jan. 5-7.
Out of new positive cases for staff, Birdville ISD reported 134 between Jan. 3-7.
Keller ISD
Due to critical staffing shortages, Keller ISD will close Bear Creek Intermediate School and North Riverside Elementary School on Friday, according to an announcement on the district’s website.
In an email to school district families, Keller ISD asked for community members and parents to consider volunteering on campus to help mitigate staffing shortages in classrooms, cafeterias, front offices and other areas. The volunteers are required to undergo a background check and all those interested should visit kellerisd.net.
According to Keller ISD’s COVID dashboard, the school district has a total of 2,032 active self-reported cases. Out of the total reported cases, 1,625 are student cases and 407 are employees.
Timber Creek High School had the most positives as of Friday morning with 236 active student cases and 25 employee cases. A Keller ISD spokesperson said the district’s dashboard is current and is updated throughout the day.
The dashboard can be found on the homepage of Keller ISD’s website.
Northwest ISD
After reporting over 1,100 positive COVID cases, Northwest ISD announced it would close all its school district campuses beginning Friday until Wednesday, Jan. 19
The school district plans to deep-clean each campus and workspace during the closure period.
Crowley ISD
Crowley school district’s COVID dashboard reported 567 positive student cases and 172 positive staff cases as of Thursday afternoon when the data was last updated at time of publication. There were 446 quarantined students and 42 quarantined staff reported.
While face masks are not required in Crowley ISD, the district encourages masks to be worn inside buildings and on school buses. The school district also offers COVID vaccine and booster shot clinics for those eligible. To pre-register your Crowley ISD student and to sign the consent form, visit the vaccines and booster tab on crowleyisdtx.org.
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD told WFAA-TV on Thursday that any elementary school class in the district that has more than a 20 percent COVID positivity rate must quarantine beginning Friday, Jan. 14, through Friday, Jan. 21.
Classes affected by the quarantine will receive notice from the principal, the district told WFAA, and those students will participate in remote learning. Affected students may return to class on Jan. 24.
White Settlement ISD
White Settlement ISD schools will be closed Friday through Tuesday, Jan. 18, with classes resuming Wednesday. Students won’t have to make up the days.
The district has over 150 staff members out due to COVID-19 exposure or other illness.
Other North Texas districts
Mesquite ISD announced Friday that it will close all its schools until Thursday, Jan. 20.
“Due to an unprecedented number of staff absences on Friday — more than 15% — and similar numbers already entered for Tuesday of next week, Mesquite ISD will close Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 18 and 19,” the school district posted on Facebook.
Other districts across North Texas that have recently announced closures for one or more days include Argyle, Boyd, Forney, Kaufman, Kemp, Krum, Maypearl, Pilot Point, Red Oak and Venus.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 1:38 PM with the headline "What we know about COVID-related school closures in Fort Worth, Tarrant County region."
