Name: Parents are ready — or not — as gradual reopening of San Antonio schools begins
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Parents are ready — or not — as gradual reopening of San Antonio schools begins

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After months of planning hampered by shifting risk assessments and zigzagging state rules, today will see the first return of students to classrooms for many pubic schools in San Antonio.With the community spread of the coronavirus on the decline but still a threat, classes will start on a small scale for individual campuses in several local school districts, including the three largest. All are requiring face coverings and social distancing.“Opening schools is the easy part. Keeping them open is more complex,” North East Independent School District Superintendent Sean Maika said in a letter to parents Friday, noting that schools inevitably will see coronavirus cases and must quickly isolate them.“Wearing a facemask is essential,” he wrote. “When a case of COVID-19 is confirmed, contact tracing is essential.”Some districts are limiting this week’s arrivals to younger grades or students with special needs, or those for whom at-home learning poses particular difficulties. Other school districts will start later — and some have not yet set a date.More for youStarting now is premature and risky, a local coalition that includes parents, representatives of teachers unions and health professionals declared Monday at a press conference.“Protocols have not been shared with staff or are not being followed with fidelity,” the group said in a news release. “Safety concerns and questions have been ignored, and educators have been given a simple choice: return to work, even under dangerous conditions for you and your students, or lose your job.”Most local districts began remote instruction in the past two weeks. They expect to teach a substantial percentage of their students online throughout the fall.The students at Castle Hills Elementary School, the only traditional public school in Bexar County with a year-round academic calendar, have been learning remotely since July. The campus reopened last week for 115 of them, almost a quarter of the student body.Class sizes there and in all reopened North East ISD schools are limited to five students, said district spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor. Approximately 14,400 students, about 22 percent of total enrollment, are set to return to classrooms today.On ExpressNews.com:Some schools were able to accommodate every family that requested in-person learning but others had to give priority to special-needs students and families with child care difficulties, Chancellor said.Northside ISD, the largest school district in Bexar County, will have a small number of students on each campus this week and will phase in others later, officials said. A survey showed parents of only about 30 percent of its enrollmente wanted to start in-person learning right away, district spokesman Barry Perez said.A July survey of San Antonio ISD parents showed a similar level of reluctance to return to school buildings. The district began contacting families last week to invite up to 10 percent of students back to schools, giving priority to those who need special education, are at risk and struggling academically and those in pre-kindergarten through second grade.Class sizes will be limited to four to six students, the district said.The district will watch the local positivity rate for coronavirus tests, the time it takes for the case count to double and the two-week trend in daily new cases. If those indicators are moving in the right direction, SAISD will increase in-person enrollment Sept. 21 by another 10 percent. Continued improvement will allow schools to phase in up to 50 percent of students.But SAISD does not predict opening schools to all students until some point during the spring semester, at the earliest.The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD will welcome back all students who want to return to its campuses today, and give families the option of choosing their children’s method of learning for every nine-week grading period, said Damon Edwards, the district’s deputy superintendent.The latest parent survey showed that about half of the district’s approximately 16,000 students planned to return today, but the number of students coming back and the district’s procedures could always change with revisions to Texas Education Agency or Centers for Disease Control guidelines, Edwards said.“It’s a totally new environment for anyone — it’s much different than what we faced in the spring,” he said. “It’s all about learning and growing, and if we have to make adjustments we’ll make adjustments.”The Alamo Heights ISD has been teaching 34 students with disabilities in person on its five campuses since Aug. 17. Other students will have the option of returning in phases today through Sept. 21, starting with younger grades.About 3,200 students — about 67 percent of the student body — have plans to begin in-person learning by the end of September, said Frank Alfaro, assistant superintendent for administrative services. All will have to wear a mask when they enter, leave, or walk through school buildings.Those in the fourth grade or higher must wear masks at all times on campus, while younger students will be given transparent face shields to wear during instruction time, which schools will keep and sanitize overnight, said Jimmie Walker, executive director for curriculum and instruction.Teachers will work six periods a day, as opposed to the usual five, to reduce the number of students per classroom. The goal is to have 24 or 25 students in each secondary education classroom, some of which will have plexiglass dividers between students, Alfaro said.Every campus already has an outdoor learning space and will get 10 tents to expand it, Walker said.Two of San Antonio’s largest charter school networks, IDEA and KIPP, will wait to the end of the month to start in-person learning, also with a phased approach.At KIPP schools, where more than 70 percent of families have indicated that they would prefer to continue remote learning, students in the ninth grade will be allowed to return first, on Sept. 21, followed by all others on Oct. 12, said Allen Smith, KIPP’s San Antonio region superintendent.IDEA schools will allow students in grades three, four, five, 11 and 12 to return to campuses Sept. 28. A week later, the rest of the students will have the option of returning, according to a letter sent to parents at the end of August.Required Reading:Harlandale ISD won’t welcome students back until Sept. 21 at the earliest. School building capacity will be kept under 10 percent and teachers will be expected to return to their classrooms whether they’re teaching students in person or virtually. The school board on Sept. 21 will hear a committee recommend what percentage of students should be invited back in the next phases.About 35 percent of 4,000 families who responded to a district survey in August said they wanted their kids to return as soon as possible. The district is seeking a TEA waiver allowing it an extra four weeks before it must provide classroom learning for every student who wants it.“There is nothing set in stone,” board president Norma Cavazos said at a meeting Aug. 31, urging families to complete the district survey on its website.Trustee Elizabeth Limon expressed hesitation, saying she didn’t want to be responsible for students, teachers and their families contracting COVID-19 in schools.“I just know that death is still there and there are still new cases,” Limon said.East Central ISD began teaching a small number of its most needy students in the last week of August. Today it will start to welcome back others in phases, with no more than 25 percent of its enrollment in school buildings on any given day. It hopes public health data will justify gradual increases in the next four weeks.“According to our survey, close to 50 percent want to return, but we will return carefully while continuously improving our risk mitigation protocols along the way,” district spokesman Brandon Oliver said.Edgewood and South San Antonio ISDs were the first to apply for TEA waivers that allow them to stay in virtual learning the first eight weeks of the school year. They will not open their doors until October, or earlier if public health data justify it.Staff writer John MacCormack contributed to this report. Alia Malik covers several school districts and the Alamo Colleges District in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Alia, . | Twitter:

After months of planning hampered by shifting risk assessments and zigzagging state rules, today will see the first return of students to classrooms for many pubic schools in San Antonio.With the community spread of the coronavirus on the decline but still a threat, classes will start on a small scale for individual campuses in several local school districts, including the three largest. All are requiring face coverings and social distancing.“Opening schools is the easy part. Keeping them open is more complex,” North East Independent School District Superintendent Sean Maika said in a...

Parents are ready — or not — as gradual reopening of San Antonio schools begins

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