Fort Worth and North Texas school, government, other closings continue into next week

The following is a list of school, government and other closings announced for Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021 and the following week. This list will be updated.

• Fort Worth ISD will take Monday, Feb. 22, and Tuesday, Feb. 23, to assess possible weather-related damage to all campuses, according to a news release. There will be no in-person or virtual classes. Students and teachers will not report to school, but many other employees will be asked to come in to join in the assessment process. Teachers will take Monday and Tuesday to work remotely to prepare for instruction in collaboration with campus staff. Following the days-long freeze last week, some schools have suffered burst pipes and water damage, the release said. Power outages have also resulted in connectivity and systems issues. District leaders want to ensure schools are operational before holding in-person or virtual instruction. All Fort Worth ISD administrators and some support staff will report for duty. Who will and won’t report is detailed in an internal memo to all employees. Supervisors will also alert their teams as to who is expected to come in on those days. The district will continue to update information regarding the remainder of the next week as it assesses its facilities.
• All Fort Worth solid waste collections have been suspended for the remainder of this week. Residential garbage and recycling collections will resume on Monday, Feb. 22 for those whose collections are scheduled for Monday. This includes pickup of extra bagged garbage. There will be separate trucks traveling through neighborhoods each day, assisting with the collection of additional garbage due to this week’s service suspension. Carts may be serviced separately from the extra bagged garbage. To assist with extra bagged garbage, the Solid Waste Division is suspending the “close the lid of your cart” policy through Feb. 27. If you have an extra bag of garbage, place it in the cart even if the lid won’t close. If you have more, you may place two additional bags of garbage beside the cart. No recycling material is allowed outside the blue cart. “To increase our focus on collecting the extra bagged garbage and the additional issues caused by processing bagged recyclable materials, we are asking residents to maximize their recycling cart space by crushing plastic bottles and aluminum cans and flattening all cardboard and small boxes,” said Robert Smouse, assistant director of Code Compliance’s Solid Waste Division. “Other options are to hold extra recycling materials for a future collection when you have space in the blue cart, or deliver the recycling material to one of the four drop-off stations.”

• Arlington ISD said a damage assessment of its schools showed repairs will need to extend past the weekend. All schools will be closed on Monday, Feb. 22 and Tuesday, Feb. 23. The district plans to resume instruction remotely on Wednesday and open up as many schools as possible for in-person learning on Thursday. “Mother Nature dealt us a hard blow,” said Superintendent Marcelo Cavazos in a Friday news release. “Today, we have 26 locations with damage and many more that aren’t safe for school on Monday. We know our families and our teachers are facing many of the same challenges at their homes. We want everyone to take Monday and Tuesday of next week to focus on their needs, but be ready to resume school remotely on Wednesday.” Cavazos went on to say that while he is hopeful that all schools will re-open for in-person learning on Thursday, he isn’t convinced. “We have a few schools with major damage from flooding and at least two schools with damaged boilers. These are major repairs that are going to take time.” To keep families and students updated on the status of their school, the district created a winter weather page. The page contains information on meal service locations, City of Arlington alerts, community resources and more.

• The University of Texas at Arlington will remain closed through Sunday, Feb. 21. The closure affects the UTA Research Institute in Fort Worth, the UTA Fort Worth Center, and all other UTA locations. All classes are canceled through Feb. 21. The UTA campus and all other UTA locations will open and resume normal operations and classes on Monday, Feb. 22. On-campus and remote work for employees will resume Monday. Beginning Saturday, Feb. 20, University Center, University Commons, Central Library, and Maverick Activities Center (MAC) are scheduled to resume normal operating hours. Please check building websites for the most updated information on operating hours and openings of these facilities.

• The University of North Texas will remain closed through Saturday, Feb. 20. All classes are canceled, including online, hybrid, remote and partially remote classes as well as in-person classes at UNT’s locations in Denton and Frisco. Essential services will operate with skeletal crews. The campus is expected to return to regular operations Sunday. If weather conditions continue to be hazardous, another announcement about an additional closure will be made. On-campus dining will be available at Eagle Landing and Champs.

• Dallas ISD classes are canceled Monday and Tuesday.

• Northwest ISD, no classes Monday.

• White Settlement is closed Monday and Tuesday.

This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 12:49 PM.