Fort Worth schools won’t require masks, will ‘strongly encourage’ people to wear them
The Fort Worth school district will “strongly encourage” mask-wearing, conduct contact tracing and require teachers and students to quarantine after coming in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, according to new protocols released Monday.
Those protocols go beyond state guidance released last week. But they stop short of requiring masks on campus. District officials say they can’t enforce a mask mandate because of an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott barring districts from doing so. But other major urban districts in the state are either implementing such mandates, or considering doing so, in defiance of Abbott’s order.
Last week, the Texas Education Agency released updated COVID-19 guidance for school districts across the state. Under the new guidance, districts no longer have to inform parents or conduct contact tracing after a positive case.
In cases in which districts do conduct contact tracing, parents of students who were in close contact with someone who tested positive may still choose to send their children to school in person. Districts must continue to keep students who are actively ill with COVID-19 at home.
The Fort Worth school district’s COVID-19 protocols go beyond the state’s recommendations. The district’s protocols, updated Friday, include contact tracing, targeted cleaning and sanitation of areas that may have been contaminated. Unvaccinated people who come in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be required to quarantine for 10 days.
Clint Bond, a spokesman for the district, said the district defines “close contact” as being within six feet of someone infected with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more. So in cases where students test positive for the virus, their entire classes wouldn’t necessarily need to quarantine, he said.
Students who are quarantining will be given excused absences. Vaccinated people who show no symptoms of COVID-19 won’t be required to quarantine after a close contact.
Fort Worth schools ‘strongly encourage’ mask-wearing
The new protocols “strongly encourage” students and teachers to wear masks, stopping short of requiring mask-wearing outright. In a statement, Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner said safety protocols like hand-washing, distancing and masking would help the district keep in-person learning on track. But Scribner said the district can’t require masking in schools.
Abbott’s order, issued in May, bars school districts from creating policies requiring mask-wearing on campus. Violations of the order carry a $1,000 fine. Last month, Abbott told KPRC-TV in Houston that he wouldn’t lift the order, in spite of rising case counts across the state. Abbott said parents should decide whether to have their children wear masks in school, but offered no advice for parents of children who are too young to be vaccinated.
Other large districts in the state are pushing back on the order.
Last week, Millard House II, superintendent of the Houston school district, said he plans to bring a proposed mask mandate before the district’s Board of Trustees on Thursday. Monday morning, Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa announced during a press conference that the district would require students and teachers to wear masks. Hinojosa said the district’s health and safety situation “has gotten significantly more urgent” due to the highly transmissible delta variant.
On Monday, Cook Children’s Hospital reported 16 patients were being treated for COVID-19. The hospital’s seven-day rolling positivity rate stood at 12.3%. The hospital’s positivity rate has been climbing since mid-June. In a release published Monday, hospital officials said they were concerned the new school year will drive hospitalizations up even further.
Start of school year is a ‘time bomb,’ Fort Worth parent says
Max Krochmal, the father of two students in the district, said he’s worried the problem will only get worse once students return to school in person.
“I think it’s a time bomb,” said Krochmal, a Texas Christian University history professor who also serves as co-chair of the district’s Racial Equity Committee.
Krochmal’s kids will start 2nd and 4th grade at De Zavala Elementary School next week. He worries about the possibility that they, or any other student who’s too young to be vaccinated, could catch the virus at school. A couple of months ago, when Tarrant County’s COVID-19 numbers were falling, he was looking forward to being able to send his kids back to school in person. But since then, the spread of the delta variant has changed his thinking, he said.
On Thursday, Krochmal launched an online petition calling on the district to require all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear masks at school at all times except to eat. The petition also calls on the district to offer a virtual learning option for unvaccinated students, particularly those with underlying health conditions. On Monday afternoon, the petition had 691 signatures.
If the district doesn’t implement a mask mandate or offer students an online option, Krochmal said he doesn’t know whether he’ll send his children to school in person. But he thinks it’s “criminal” that the district put parents like him in this position, he said.
“We don’t have to choose between these bad options,” he said. “They could give us better options.”
The Fort Worth school district’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to hear a presentation on the district’s COVID-19 protocols at a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The board’s new meeting location is at the district’s Professional Development Center, 3150 McCart Ave., in Fort Worth.
This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 12:43 PM.
