Fort Worth ISD says it has not decided whether to open with online or in-person classes
Fort Worth school officials have not yet decided if they will stick with online-only classes for the first six weeks or allow in-person classes in mid-August, Superintendent Kent P. Scribner said at a virtual town hall Tuesday.
School officials must decide what to do after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said public health authorities may not close schools “for the sole purpose of preventing future COVID-19 infections.” Tarrant County’s health officials had ordered the first six weeks of school to be online only because of rising coronavirus cases in the county.
The goal with the order was to keep students at home until several weeks after the Labor Day holiday to avoid a potential spike in cases that could spread through schools.
Tarrant County had reported a total of 26,315 COVID-19 cases, including 349 deaths and at least 13,560 recoveries as of Tuesday.
Fort Worth ISD Board of Education member Jacinto Ramos Jr. said the board will continue to talk about reopening, especially when there’s a risk for spread when people are in motion.
“I, as one trustee, never imagined making decisions that would probably mean life or death for students, for teachers and the community at large,” he said.
Ramos said the board has asked for more help and flexibility from the state but instead has gotten more politics.
After Paxton’s decision, the Texas Education Agency said that remote instruction will no longer be funded if a local health authority issues a blanket order for schools to close, as it “does not constitute a legally issued closure order.”
In Fort Worth’s neighboring city, Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told Fox 4 news that as of November, Dallas ISD can’t receive state funding if students are not in the classroom, regardless of what the pandemic looks like.
Dallas County had reported 48,028 COVID-19 cases, including 622 deaths as of Tuesday. In the past week, almost 100 people have died of COVID-19 in the county. More than 1,800 children under 18 have contracted COVID-19 since July 1, including 38 who have been hospitalized and four who were admitted to the ICU.
During the Fort Worth town hall, most questions and concerns were about how virtual learning was going to differ from the spring and how safe schools were going to be for students, faculty and staff.
Scribner told community members that virtual learning in the fall will be a robust and consistent experience, one that will be different from the spring.
The district’s virtual learning will be asynchronous, which means students will work at their own pace, Scribner said. The district’s reopening plan also states that teachers have undergone and will continue to undergo training to better teach online. Parents will also have access to their children’s accounts and can track their progress, making it easier for children to be held accountable.
Parents who work full time while their children learn virtually can look to the district’s early childhood program for additional help, Scribner said. More information will be released soon.
For those returning to in-person classes, Scribner assured the community that there will be personal protective equipment for students, faculty and staff. Custodian staff will be in the school all day, ensuring cleanliness.
Plexiglass also will be available. That has been used by companies across the nation to combat the spread of coronavirus.
Board member Quinton Phillips added that the district has gone over its budget for COVID-19-related expenses and will continue to do so if it means that the children and teachers are safe.
Scribner told the Star-Telegram on July 21 that the district was taking on possibly “tens of millions of dollars” in unbudgeted costs related to the outbreak.
Paxton’s decision was another one of many over the last few months that the board has had to adjust to, Phillips said.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know everything,” he said.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 8:56 PM.
