Fort Worth students return to classrooms Monday. Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers.
On Monday, students will be back in Fort Worth Independent School District classrooms for the first time in seven months.
The district plans to welcome back the first group of students before eventually returning all grade levels to in-person learning on Oct. 19. All classes have been online since March. Fort Worth ISD officials voted to gradually begin optional in-person learning during a Sept. 22 board of education meeting. The discussion lasted over 10 hours and went into the next morning.
The district reported 44 active coronavirus cases among staff and six among students, according to the district’s online dashboard as of Friday afternoon. All of the active student cases are among players involved in football and volleyball team activities, said Clint Bond, Fort Worth ISD spokesperson. Those who have tested positive are quarantining, but no school buildings have been closed.
Pre-K, kindergarten, first-grade, sixth-grade, ninth-grade and special education students who choose to do so will begin in-person classes Monday. Seventh-graders at Rosemont, Wedgwood, McLean, and Forest Oak Middle will also begin Monday.
Going into Monday, Bond said, staff and students will have to pre-screen for coronavirus symptoms. All students and staff will wear face masks when in school facilities or around others. Staff will sanitize their stations at the start and end of the day. Parents are asked to keep their kids at home if they are showing coronavirus symptoms.
Arlington Heights High School, Eastern Hills High School, Paschal High School and Polytechnic High School each have one active student case, while Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School has two, according to the district’s data.
Student cases are updated on the website each week on Mondays, while staff cases are updated in real-time, according to the website.
In total 11 students have reported testing positive since Sept. 8, and 100 staff members have reported positive tests since Aug. 17.
Across Fort Worth ISD schools, there are 44 active staff member cases with 29 of those coming from elementary school staff, and 15 from middle and high schools.
Schools with active staff cases as of Friday reported between one and three cases each. The middle and high schools with staff cases include Benbrook, Trimble Tech, Jo Kelly, North Side, Paschal, South Hills, Applied Learning, Jean McClung, McClean 6th Grade, Rosemont, William James and Leonard. Elementary schools with staff cases include A.M. Pate, Alice D. Contreras, Atwood McDonald, Benbrook, Carroll Peak, Carter Park, Como, Daggett Montessori, Diamond Hill, Eastern Hills, Glen Park, Hubbard Heights, Mitchell Boulevard, Natha Howell, Oakhurst, Oaklawn, Ridglea Hills, Rosemont Park, Rufino Mendoza, Seminary Hills Park, Van Zandt-Guinn, Versia L. Williams, Westcreek, Western Hills and West Park.
This week, 27 staff members reported testing positive, and 73 staff members reported potentially being exposed to a person who has the virus.
Although most of those who reported being exposed are quarantining, 27 staff members were cleared to continue working. Bond said the district determined after contract tracing that they weren’t close enough to catch the virus.
According to the district’s Return to Learning plan, students and staff can come back on campus after quarantine if they go 24 hours fever-free without using medication, they have improved symptoms and 10 days have passed since symptoms began.
Teachers who take days off to quarantine will need to use their allotted sick days, according to the district’s Return to Learning plan. Bond said teachers start with 10 paid time off days and can accumulate more the longer they are with the district.
He said the district encourages teachers to apply to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The federal program gives employees an extra two weeks of paid time off. The program runs through Dec. 31.
Andrew Chambers, a kindergarten teacher at Fort Worth ISD, said one of the problems that could occur is a teacher having to use more time off than allotted. In his case, he might need to quarantine and since he has a daughter, he might need to stay at home again with her if she’s sick or quarantined.
It would be especially hard for new teachers in the district who only have the initial 10 days of paid time, he said.
Bond said if teachers need to quarantine, they will be able to work from home so they don’t use up their sick days.
But Chambers said teachers already have had to deal with a lot, and the last thing they want to think about is whether they’ll need to use sick days or not during a global pandemic.
The policy for the district is that if a teacher goes over their allotted sick days and takes a day off, they get their pay docked, Bond said.
“This is public money and you can’t gift public money,” Bond said.
In the event that a teacher needs more sick days, there is a sick day pool, but it would be done on an individual basis, he said.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
