HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN)– During Monday’s announcement, Governor Greg Abbott gave the green light for school districts to resume traditional learning for summer classes starting in June.
Austin ISD plans to offer a combination of in-person and remote learning.
But many other school districts, who have gone to great lengths implementing a virtual system, say they won’t be making the switch back to the classroom for summer school.
Hays, San Marcos, Round Rock, Leander, Eanes, and Lake Travis school districts say they will stay online for summer 2020.
“We’ve created a great online system and our students have adapted, our parents have adapted well to that online platform so we feel that in the best interest for our students and our staff is to provide a virtual learning platform for the summer,” says Andrew Fernandez, spokesperson for San Marcos CISD.
Fernandez says they are a one-to-one district when it comes to devices for secondary grade levels and, during the pandemic, they have been able to get devices to elementary students, as well.
He also says the district has distributed about 500 WiFi hotspots to families.
“Our summer school starts in 12 days and we’re already a week or so into registration,” says Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy. “To be able to convert it that fast would be the biggest challenge.”
Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy says switching to in-person classes would also mean re-starting their bus system to get students to campus, a process that has its own guidelines from the Texas Education Agency.
“The logistics of social distancing and managing small class sizes to ensure adequate spacing are complex in a school environment. The uncertainty of how State, city and county guidelines are evolving makes any model other than remote learning difficult to guarantee for students and their families.”
Tom Leonard, Eanes ISD superintendent
Savoy says while it’s too late for his district to implement the new protocols, the guidance offers a sneak peek into what they might expect when they do go back to the classroom.
It includes things like making sure desks are six feet apart, with groups at least 30 feet apart and having assigned seats in the cafeteria.
“The needed changes for social distancing, the limited class size, the temperature checks, the hand washing– all of those things are challenging for anyone who would want to do in-person school,” Savoy says.
The Texas Education Agency also says students shouldn’t participate in activities like choir, playing wind instruments or indoor sports because there’s more potential for spreading the COVID-19 through respiratory droplets.
Savoy says although these summer regulations may loosen up for the 2020-2021 school year, they expect to see at least some of the same new safety regulations.
“The one thing we know is that there’s probably going to be something that’s different. We’re not likely looking at a regular, normal start to school,” he says.
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