Fort Worth ISD to start transition to in-person learning next week; schedule released
In the early hours Wednesday, Fort Worth school officials voted to fully begin optional in-person learning on Oct. 19. But, between now and then, officials want to gradually put students in classrooms.
The Fort Worth Independent School District wants its teachers on campus on Sept. 28 and they will prep their classrooms for in-person learning, according to the district’s plan. Starting Oct. 5, pre-K, kindergarten, first-grade, sixth-grade, ninth-grade students and self-contained special education classes will return to classrooms if they choose to. Seventh-graders at Rosemont, Wedgwood, McLean, and Forest Oak Middle Schools who choose in-person instruction will also begin this day, according to a district news release.
Oct. 12 will be a teacher “flex day” for professional development. This will be a holiday for students.
Then, second-, third-, seventh- and 10th-grade students who choose in-person instruction will begin classes on Oct. 13, according to the plan.
By Oct. 19, all families that choose in-person will be back in Fort Worth ISD classrooms. Students who don’t choose to go in person will continue with online learning.
This plan passed with a 5-4 vote. Trustees Tobi Jackson, Daphne Brookins, C.J. Evans and Norman Robbins voted against the measure that delayed the start of some classes for an additional two weeks. Board members Anne Darr, Quinton Phillips, Anael Luebanos, Ashley Paz, and President Jacinto Ramos Jr. were in favor.
The Fort Worth ISD board of education also approved a hybrid learning model for the district’s high schools, which will split students into two groups that will alternate two days of in-person and two days of virtual education, according to the plan. The two cohorts would then attend school every other Friday.
Ninth-grade students will start hybrid learning during the week of Oct. 5, and 10th-grade students will begin hybrid learning the week of Oct. 13. The plan is to have all grades under the model by Oct. 19.
The high school hybrid learning motion passed with a vote of 8-1. Evans voted no, saying she was concerned about the “open-endedness” of the hybrid model.
Per guidelines from the Texas Education Agency, school systems are automatically able to limit on-campus instruction for the first four weeks of the school year, called the start-of-year transition period. For Fort Worth ISD, the end of the first four weeks is on Oct. 5. To add up to an additional four weeks to the transition period, a school board has to approve a waiver from TEA.
Clint Bond, Fort Worth ISD spokesperson, said the district is going ahead with the plan and will not wait for a response from the TEA. In the past, the TEA has indicated that it would approve plans such as the one Fort Worth ISD is implementing, he said.
According to the TEA waiver form, all waivers will be conditionally approved upon receipt but may be subject to further review by TEA.
The TEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 1:29 PM.
