Fort Worth school district calls for more flexibility over return to campuses amid COVID
Citing the recent surge in cases of the novel coronavirus, the Fort Worth school district’s superintendent and Board of Education president urged Gov. Greg Abbott to grant school districts greater flexibility over reopening this fall, including calling for online-only instruction if needed.
In separate letters, Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent P. Scribner and the district’s’ Board of Education President Jacinto Ramos, Jr. requested Abbott direct the Texas Education Agency to provide both greater stability for school funding and to allow districts to cease classes on campus if necessary based on the virus’ spread.
After previous delays, the TEA released its public health guidance on returning to campuses last week. The guidance reversed course and said that face masks and screenings will be required. And while any parent may request their children be offered virtual instruction, districts are required to provide on-campus attendance for students.
It’s one of the stipulations that both letters call on Abbott to change. The letters request a response by Friday. A spokesman for Abbott did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
“Certainly, we all want students to be in school but local school districts must have the flexibility to make sure that any approach taken is safe for students, staff, and families without the fear of losing funding,” read a letter sent last week by the Texas Urban Council of Superintendents and Texas School Alliance.
Fort Worth ISD is a member of both organizations, and Scribner also serves as the chair of the Texas Urban Council of Superintendents.
The letter notes that while it may be feasible to hold in-person classes for some districts, others may need a hybrid approach or to offer classes only online “for some significant periods of time during the year.” It calls on Abbott to permit districts to begin the school year with only online learning for at least the first grading period (six or nine weeks) without a reduction in state funding.
According to TEA’s public health guidance, districts may temporarily limit access to in-person instruction during the first three weeks of the school year.
Abbott told KTRK-TV in Houston Tuesday night that in the next few days TEA Commissioner Mike Morath “is expected to announce a longer period of time for online learning at the beginning of the school year,” that would provide local districts with latitude and flexibility.
“To say we are required to have in-class instruction — no matter what the situation is — is not only reckless but unsafe for our students and our staff,” read a separate Monday letter signed by Ramos and nine other board presidents of some of Texas’ largest districts, including Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
The Fort Worth school district had announced last month that students would have the option of returning to the classroom or continuing their learning online in the fall. As of last week, 57% of parents have opted for in-person instruction, while 43% have requested virtual classes.
Like businesses navigating closures and scaling back services, school districts are not immune to the financial impacts of the pandemic, and are often the largest employers in their areas, the TUC and TSA’s letter notes.
“As you work to put the economy of Texas back on its feet, school districts play a critical role in that healthy economic outlook. Loss of funding will have significant impact on local economies and will be counter-productive to all the work you have been doing,” the letter reads.
To combat that, the letter asks that Abbott direct TEA Commissioner Mike Morath waive accounting requirements for student attendance for the upcoming school year as they anticipate a large number of students will choose remote instruction “and the burdensome attendance accounting will be difficult for teachers and staff.”
According to the TEA’s guidance on attendance, the state will still fund districts teaching remotely, but districts must measure student engagement and progress and have plans approved by the state. Virtual instruction may count toward a student’s attendance, and be offered in real-time or through other forms, like pre-recorded lessons or virtual learning modules.
To offset any negative financial impacts from a decrease in attendance during the first 12 weeks of school year, the agency will also give districts a grace period.
The letter also calls establishing a floor for average daily attendance that no district should fall below, so that they would not need to implement budget cuts or reduce staff at a time when students and families will need even more support from schools.
Additionally, the board presidents’ letter asks Abbott to prohibit students from attending school on campus if they have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case. Currently, the agency’s public health guidance says that parents must ensure they don’t send their child to campus if they are exhibiting symptoms or encountered a positive case, and “instead should opt to receive remote instruction” until the student has met the criteria to return.
With schools set to reopen next month, parents and teachers across the state have raised concerns as the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths due to the novel coronavirus reach all-time highs in Texas.
In recent weeks Abbott has scaled back the state’s aggressive reopening amid the pandemic, mandating face masks in most public places, shutting down bars, reducing restaurants’ capacity to 50% and banning elective surgeries in more than 100 Texas counties.
The letters from district officials stress that school districts are facing the same rise in cases, and that they too warrant a change in plans in order to adapt.
“No one knows what the status of COVID will be when school starts. As a result, that’s why TEA and your local school districts there, like the Dallas ISD, they know that the things that they will focus on the most are flexibility,” Abbott told KXAS-TV in Dallas Monday night.
When discussing the return to campuses this fall, Abbott has previously stressed flexibility, and said that his statewide mask mandate may change by the time schools reopen. The Texas State Teachers Association had called on Abbott to remove the age limit exception from his mask mandate — as children under 10 are not required to wear one under Abbott’s order.
“If COVID is spreading like it is right now, the local school board has the authority to delay the opening of schools,” Abbott said, or require remote learning be utilized.
Some districts across the state have already indicated they are planning to pursue that option, according to the Houston Chronicle.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 8:32 PM.
