Fort Worth area school district providing masks, face shields for students, staff
When school starts next month, students in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford School District will have to follow requirements such as social distancing in classrooms and wearing masks or face shields.
School district officials recently unveiled the Return to Learn plan for students, teachers and staff.
Assistant superintendent Joe Harrington said students and teachers will be trained on health and safety procedures including hand washing, using hand sanitizer, cleaning and social distancing.
The district’s plan follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Texas Education Agency guidelines, he said.
The district is providing masks and face shields for all students and staff. Children in kindergarten and below can wear the face shields, but they aren’t required to wear a mask. Students in grades 1-12 are required to wear masks unless they have a medically documented reason not to wear one. They can also wear the face shields for added protection.
Students will also have to sanitize their hands when entering the classrooms.
The plan also spells out procedures if students and teachers have COVID-19 symptoms or if students and employees test positive for the virus.
Teachers and parents weighed in on the district’s plan.
Trasa Cobern, who teaches at Trinity High School, said she wants to teach in the classroom and not online.
“There are no great solutions to the problems we are facing,” she said.
“I just felt like we really let our students down this spring. Looking through the plan, I just want to cry. The school plan is just awful. Nothing we’re doing right now is good for student learning,” Cobern said.
Cobern said students will have a hard time learning if they wear masks all day.
Another teacher, Jessica Lugo, said the short term solution is to have students learn online.
“The way things are right now, I don’t think it’s safe for us to be in such close quarters,” Lugo said.
Shawna Wilson, a parent in the school district, said the community as a whole needs to be educated on wearing masks.
The plan was presented during Monday’s school board meeting where over 500 people attended virtually.
Online learning
Parents can choose to register their children for “traditional school” or online learning.
Superintendent Steve Chapman said if parents choose the online option, it carries the same weight as learning in the classroom.
“In the spring we had an emergency response to a crisis,” Chapman said, referring to the governor’s order to close schools. “In a week we turned around and produced the best process we could to fully instruct our students,” he said.
But when school starts in August, Chapman emphasized that students and teachers who are online have to follow requirements such as attendance, participation and grading.
Chapman is the president of the Texas School Alliance and in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, the organization requested flexibility in starting school, such as allowing districts to start the school year with online learning only for at least the first grading periods without affecting school funding.
Chapman emphasized that the plan could change, and the district will put out information.