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Parents, districts scrambling as school reopens while COVID-19 cases spike

The delta variant and the lack of vaccine for young kids is driving concerns.

Sarah Avina has until Friday at noon to decide what comes next for her family.

Avina’s son is going into fourth grade in Richardson ISD, and she feels an “immense pressure” to make the right decision, even as she’s scrambling to do it.

Late Monday, Richardson ISD announced plans to temporarily allow virtual learning for students from kindergarten to sixth grade. Like most districts, Richardson initially cancelled all online options it used last spring because of a lack of state funding.

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But the district brought back a version of virtual learning in the face of the highly contagious delta variant, with case levels rising statewide and with kids under 12 currently ineligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.

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Concerns over the fast-spreading variant have left districts and the state scrambling on how best to respond. On Monday, Dallas and Austin announced new mask mandates, while Plano -- similar to Richardson -- offered its own short-term virtual option. On Tuesday, a Texas Senate committee gave preliminary approval to a bill that would fund these virtual options, potentially making it easier for more districts to start online classes as the school year starts.

Such changes, just days before the start of classes, have put some parents in a bind, leaving little time to evaluate their options.

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For Avina, she has four days notice to figure out what’s best.

If she chooses to keep her son home, “I don’t know how it’ll affect my job or my son’s learning,” she said. “If I chose to go to school, I don’t know if he’ll end up being sick and I’ll feel like that’s my fault.

“What if I choose virtual and then next week they can mandate masks? I want him to go to school in person. Do I want to take that risk?”

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Mask mandates

Dallas ISD on Monday became the first to formally defy Gov. Greg Abbott’s order banning school districts from issuing mask mandates. Austin officials followed later that night, while Houston ISD’s board will vote on the issue Thursday.

To this point, however, most other districts say they will only go so far as to encourage mask wearing, but cite the governor’s order as the reason why they won’t require it. Those who flout Abbott’s order could be subject to a fine of up to $1,000, but it’s unclear how such a penalty could be applied to schools.

Upon the release of his district’s new protocols on Monday, Fort Worth ISD superintendent Kent P. Scribner said “while we cannot mandate the wearing of masks, the district strongly encourages that everyone does so.”

But, after receiving a letter signed by 125 physicians from Cook Children’s Health Care System asking him to follow masking guidance set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Scribner changed course, asking his staff to amend those protocols to include a mask mandate for students and staff on campuses and in buses.

“We will monitor our COVID data and revisit this protocol as appropriate,” he said during a Tuesday board meeting.

Richardson superintendent Jeannie Stone said her district “would, at this time, follow the governor’s mandate.”

Stone released a video to parents late Tuesday, explaining that her district wouldn’t “pick and choose the laws that we’re going to follow,” but pleading with Abbott and other state leaders to return local control to school districts facing another round of COVID concerns.

“The governor’s mandate really prohibits us having the local control that we need to use the tools in our toolbox that made last year so successful, which was to use our local context, the data and advice from our local health authorities to be able make the best decision for our local districts,” Stone said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News Tuesday afternoon.

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Richardson’s virtual option had been in the works for several months, prompted by requests from parents -- some with immunocompromised children -- unwilling to return their kids to in-person classes just yet.

But, with the “resurgence of this new variant,” Stone and her administrative staff felt compelled to offer the option to all families to start the school year. Stone estimates that about 700 students will participate.

It isn’t a long-term solution, though. Richardson’s virtual classes will run from Aug. 23 to Oct. 15, at which point the district will reevaluate whether to extend the program.

Virtual changes

Denton ISD was one of the first districts in North Texas to start planning for virtual classes in the new year. Initially, 300 students signed up for the district’s virtual academy, but over the summer about 1,000 more added their names to the waitlist, Superintendent Jamie Wilson said Tuesday at a Texas Senate committee hearing on a bill that aims to fund virtual education.

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“As we progress through the summer, and we don’t have the ability to mandate face coverings, we’re having more and more people interested in trying to keep their children safe,” Wilson said.

The Denton school leader was one of several superintendents hoping the state would approve funding for virtual education. During the regular legislative session, lawmakers largely expressed support for a bill that would provide funding, but the bill fell victim to a late-in-the-session walkout by Texas House Democrats.

Launching an unfunded virtual program is an expensive endeavor that must be paid for out of district reserves or federal pandemic aid. Frisco Superintendent Mike Waldrip estimated that it would cost his district $3.5 million for every 1,000 students enrolled in its online program.

Waldrip’s district joined others in pleading with the state to reconsider the funding issue. Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott announced virtual education could be taken up in the second special session and on Tuesday the Senate Education Committee approved a bill by Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, that would provide state funding to schools that offer virtual learning.

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His bill allows school districts and charters that received a C grade or higher in the most recent round of state accountability grades to offer remote learning to students. The approved school systems have to include at least one state-tested grade in their offerings and limit enrollment to 10 percent or less of their total student body in the 2021-22 school year.

The programs would be open only to students living in the district, eliminating the possibility that districts could poach students from other schools that don’t offer such an option. The bill also aims to curb concerns around virtual learning that came up during the early months of the pandemic, including that teachers can’t be required to teach virtual and in-person classes at the same time.

Schools would have the option to pull kids back into in-person classrooms if students don’t meet academic requirements and any student wanting in-person instruction must have access, Taylor emphasized.

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With committee approval, the bill now heads to the full Senate, but it can’t be taken up in the Texas House until a quorum exists. If it does pass the Legislature, districts will have to act quickly to launch virtual programs for interested students.

Demand is growing as the school year nears and the health crisis worsens, superintendents told Senators Tuesday.

The waiting list for a spot in Austin-area Leander ISD’s virtual program is nearing 2,700 students, Superintendent Bruce Gearing said.

The governor “doesn’t want to compel people to wear masks and I get that, but then we can’t compel pre-K through six students to come to school in person without access to vaccinations and without the protection of masks,” Gearing said. “The solution is in Senate Bill 15 and in state funding for virtual education.”

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Short-term online options aren’t solving all of parents’ worries, either. In Plano, officials’ temporary fix does not include offering live instruction to students. The teacher on the family’s home campus “will not be responsible for delivering instruction or grading daily work,” according to the district website.

Heather Hunter, whose son is going into second grade, said Plano’s decision to offer a “parent-led” virtual option shifts the strain onto family members. Hunter and her husband both work, though she said they’re fortunate to be able to work from home. The pressure this would put on a single, working parent is much greater, she said.

“What they’re saying is, only people who can afford it can keep their kids safe,” she said. “Whereas the most equitable, simple, straightforward and scientifically-backed solution would be to put masks on faces.”

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

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The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.

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