Fort Worth school board to reconsider moving forward with in-person learning on Oct. 5
Fort Worth school officials may decide to extend online learning despite voting against an extension a few days ago.
On the agenda for Tuesday’s Fort Worth Independent School District board of trustees meeting, members will discuss and possibly vote to extend the transition from online learning until Oct. 30. The transition to optional in-person classes would then be completed Nov. 2.
On Sept. 15, the board voted 5-4 to start optional in-person classes on Oct. 5. Board members heard from Tarrant County Health Director Vinny Taneja about COVID-19 data as well as recommendations from Superintendent Kent Scribner, district administrators and members of the public.
Trustees Tobi Jackson, Daphne Brookins, Anne Darr, C.J. Evans and Norman Robbins voted against a measure to push back the start date. Board members Quinton Phillips, Anael Luebanos, Ashley Paz and President Jacinto Ramos Jr. were in favor of continuing online-only learning for the additional four weeks allowed by Texas Education Agency guidelines.
Clint Bond, Fort Worth ISD spokesperson, told the Star-Telegram that board members requested the Oct. 5 start date be reconsidered at the Sept. 22 meeting, but that Scribner will recommend that schools should start in-person on Oct. 5.
If the new agenda item is passed, officials would want to gradually increase and stagger in-person learning on campuses, according to the agenda.
Based on current data, the Tarrant County Public Health Department recommends that most school districts in the county consider hybrid learning, which is a mix of in-person and online classes.
On Thursday, the state released a new coronavirus dashboard for schools and it showed that over 2,000 students and 2,000 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the school year. Those numbers represent less than 1 percent of the students and staff who have been on school campuses statewide.
The upcoming Fort Worth ISD board meeting is at 5:30 p.m. If the public wants to address the board during the virtual meeting, they must contact Amanda Coleman at 817-814-1956 before 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The public can watch the meeting via Zoom or listen in by phone. Meetings also are televised live by EdTV, the district’s TV station, on Spectrum/Charter Cable Channel 192 or AT&T U-Verse 99, and can be watched via live streaming video through the district website’s video on demand. You may also watch on the Fort Worth ISD Live YouTube channel.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 8:38 PM.
