How Fort Worth-area schools are continuing to teach kids during coronavirus
Fort Worth-area school districts are working to provide resources for students who will be out of school for at least the next two weeks due to coronavirus, per a sweeping declaration from Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday.
The Fort Worth Independent School District and the other districts in the area are taking their cues from state officials on closures and taking the crisis week-by-week.
Abbott’s public health disaster declaration Thursday means local districts, which had already extended spring breaks until March 30, will be closed through at least April 3.
Other districts, such as Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD, have closed their school buildings indefinitely due to COVID-19.
Most districts haven’t settled on a long-term curriculum outside of the classroom but have prepared learning packets, reading lists, webpages and other programs for parents and kids.
Clint Bond, a spokesperson for Fort Worth ISD, said the coronavirus crisis is unprecedented — it’s the longest period of school closures he can think of since swine flu caused kids to stay home for four days in 2009.
But he said that won’t stop the work of educators.
“Our job is to educate children,” he said. “And we will do the best we can to put together a plan that will continue to educate children for as long as they’re not in the classroom.”
Resources for kids in Fort Worth districts
The more than 80,000 students in Fort Worth schools can find activities on a variety of subjects on the district’s webpage. The school district is still suffering from a malware attack to one of its main servers, which damaged its web capabilities, so the webpage links to other websites. There are links to magazine articles, math quizzes from the Khan Academy and educational videos on the Spanish language.
Administrators have been hosting daily conference calls about the curriculum for students moving forward. They hope once the district recovers from the online attack, teachers can create their own lessons, though a definitive framework has yet to be set.
“As we return the capability for our teachers to interact with the students, then there will be more specific current learning that goes on,” Bond said. “But that’s not happening today.”
All students in Fort Worth secondary schools are issued laptops which they can use to work through their assignments, Bond said, and anyone who left theirs at school can arrange a time to come get it. If a student doesn’t have access to WiFi, he said, they can reach out to the district to set up a hotspot.
Elementary school students can use the online resources if they have access to a device, but Bond said starting next week, they will also be encouraged to pick up bags of books from any location where lunch is being served.
Northwest ISD, which includes 14 municipalities in Tarrant, Denton and Wise counties, opened a website dedicated to resources for parents and kids during the COVID-19 closure. The site includes reading lists, subject-by-subject programs, journaling prompts and more.
Since those resources are enrichment-based and do not replace classroom learning, the district is actively working to put together curriculum that can be accessed from home, Jerry Cantu, spokesman for Northwest ISD, said.
“It’s definitely not going to be a worksheet that is going to be sent home with the kids,” he said. “It’s going to be interactive with the teachers.”
Northwest ISD faculty are still on call and many have reached out to students directly, Cantu said.
Other districts’ plans for teaching
The Mansfield School District — which covers a large section of North Texas including Mansfield, Arlington and Burleson — is preparing packets filled with educational activities for elementary school students. Kids can pick those up at any of the district’s six spots to pick up lunch, spokesperson Hope Boyd said.
The packets will also be available online.
The district is in the process of creating an online curriculum for kids, Boyd said. Officials are working to get iPads or laptops to middle school or high school students who don’t have one.
“We’re just going to make sure the education process will continue at home,” she said.
Keller ISD has created two weeks’ worth of lesson plans that teachers can send directly to students, said Sara Koprowski, executive director of curriculum instruction.
The district created a website for teachers that includes daily curriculum plans for every subject for Pre-K through 6th grade. The website includes lessons for P.E., fine arts and special education students, and teachers have been pushing the lessons out each day.
Arlington ISD also opened an online learning hub that gives students grade-by-grade lessons to reinforce what they’ve learned in the classroom.
“We’re kind of building this airplane while we’re flying it,” said Anita Foster, Arlington ISD executive director of communications. “We have remote learning tools, but that’s very different than not having access to a classroom at all.”
The district has four phases of online learning they’re implementing and they are currently in phase one. By phase three, the district is hoping to connect teachers with their classrooms virtually, Foster said.
In a statement on their website, district officials said they worked around the clock to come up with a plan to ensure students continue learning while school is closed.
The hub will continue to grow to include specialized programs such as STEM and other classes, a district spokesman said.
In the Southlake Carroll school district, where a parent has tested positive for COVID-19, students should not expect online learning to be “school as usual” since “many of our staff members are just trying to take care of their families,” officials wrote in a letter. The district is launching online teacher-based instruction on Monday.
Online learning resources such as ClassLink, Canvas and Seesaw are already available to students on the district website. There are also counseling support services on the website for those who might be struggling with the psychological toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
Closures
District officials across DFW are in contact with state officials to determine if they should remain closed or can set a date to re-open.
Bond said Fort Worth schools remain ready to open if that’s the advice given by Tarrant County Public Health, the Texas Department of State Health Services and other medical professionals.
“If not,” he said, “we will remain closed.”
Officials from the Arlington, Keller and Mansfield districts have indicated they’re playing it by ear, waiting for the official word.
Cantu said Northwest ISD is emphasizing that this is not just an “extended spring break,” but is also purposefully avoiding using the word “indefinite” to describe their closure.
“We are keeping our sights on the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “For the sake of our students, we hope to be back to business as usual before the end of the school year.”
