Name: San Antonio ISD superintendent plans to open schools Aug. 10
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San Antonio ISD superintendent plans to open schools Aug. 10

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A dozen students spread out in a classroom built for 22, maybe attending school in half-day shifts, or maybe every other day. Lunch at their desks, no congregating in the gym or auditorium, no football.That’s what Superintendent Pedro Martinez believes school will look like at his 100 campuses in the San Antonio Independent School District this fall. In an hour-long live streamed question-and-answer session with the Express-News editorial board, he described a dramatically different school environment forced by the new realities of the coronavirus pandemic.It will be difficult, but for the high-poverty district in the city’s urban core, physically going to school will be more important than ever, because many of its 48,600 students lack good places to study and reliable internet at home, Martinez said.One thing he doesn’t see changing is the need to bring a proposed $1.25 billion bond before voters in November. Downtown commercial development continues on pace to allow the district to pay it off without a property tax rate increase, Martinez said. It could retrofit schools with bigger classrooms, better internet and spaces where students can work after school while munching on free snacks.This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateSchool facilities will have a bigger role, “really the true equalizer, because until somebody can create great housing for every single family member in my community, I feel like our buildings have to be that resource for them,” Martinez said.“In today’s times, I see our school buildings becoming a refuge for so many of our children who, through no fault of their own, just don’t have those types of living conditions, and I think it’s even worse today than it was before.”Martinez wants to begin summer programs in mid-July for students who fell behind during the two months of distance learning imposed to combat the spread of the virus. He plans to open schools on time Aug. 10, with appropriate social distancing rules and a “blended learning” model that includes more virtual instruction at home.SAISD already had the earliest start date in Bexar County for a public school system, but Martinez said he thinks more districts, concerned about learning loss, will ask the state education commissioner for permission to open earlier with a blended model. Under state law, the default first day of school is Aug. 24 this year.Martinez, who sits on the city-county task force for reopening the local economy, said he wants to work with employers to ensure parents have flexibility around changing school schedules.“There’s no way you can open up the city if the schools are not open,” he said. “There’s no way you can bring tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of employees back to work if the schools are not open. You need childcare. You need children to be in a safe space.”During the fall semester at least, children might go to school in smaller groups, so they can be properly spaced to avoid spreading the virus, Martinez said. Schools can check students’ temperatures and will need to add more protections for staff, including acrylic barriers in offices, and the district has ordered masks for all staff to wear if it’s deemed necessary in August, he said.On ExpressNews.com:In some schools, all students can be spaced six feet apart, especially those where declining enrollment has left classrooms otherwise vacant. The blended model would also apply to time spent in school buildings, with students switching between classroom instruction in smaller groups and virtual work in other rooms, including cafeterias, gyms and auditoriums that can’t be used for their original purposes while social distancing prevails.Other schools are so packed they would have to accept students in shifts, either for half days or alternating days, Martinez said. When not in classrooms, they’ll be expected to work remotely. Younger children, students with special needs that technology can’t accommodate and those who otherwise struggle with blended learning would get more classroom time.Staffers at every school are being asked to solicit feedback from parents and come up with a plan for the semester. Some families might be given the choice between school in shifts at one campus and full days at another.“We’re analyzing all our classrooms as we speak and we’re looking at multiple scenarios,” Martinez said.The district’s transportation department is also calculating how many students can fit on a bus with six feet between them.Social distancing measures might be relaxed in the spring, Martinez said, especially if vaccines start to become available or there are other advances in fighting the virus.Experts have said remote instruction is harder for students who don’t have adequate work environments at home, heightening existing inequities. Some high school students have gone to work after family members got laid off. Parents who’ve kept working might not be able to adequately supervise their children’s learning.“It’s very difficult to replace a physical teacher providing close instruction to children, developing those personal relationships,” Martinez said. “For many of our children, they need to be in classrooms. I just think it’s the best environment for them.”Confining students to smaller groups will also help with contact tracing if a teacher or student contracts the virus. In that case, the whole class and the teacher would stay home and work remotely during a quarantine period.Plays, concerts and other large events might be jettisoned. The University Interscholastic League is expected to set statewide guidelines for fall sports, but Martinez doubted contact sports, including football, would be possible. Others, such as tennis, could be spared.“When we’re able to see a Spurs game, that’s probably when we’ll be able to have high-contact sports in our district,” Martinez said.For the first time in recent memory, SAISD’s enrollment didn’t drop significantly this year, hovering at 48,600. But teachers and school staff still haven’t been able to reach 2,400 students since distance learning began.Martinez said some families, jobless and concerned about losing their housing when the eviction moratorium expires, are moving in with other families. He’s concerned about losing all those students next year, and the attendance-based state funding that comes with them. SAISD loses $8 million for every 1,000 lost students, he said.State funding for blended learning could also depend on the Texas Education Agency extending the attendance waivers it granted this spring or otherwise altering guidelines.If families register now for next school year, they will be able to keep their electronic devices and access SAISD’s digital learning resources through the summer, Martinez said. And families too frightened to send their children to school come August could still continue with distance learning.“What I would hate is for families to try to do homeschooling, and then the achievement gaps just grow wider,” he said.Alia Malik covers several school districts and the University of Texas at San Antonio. To read more from Alia, . | Twitter:

A dozen students spread out in a classroom built for 22, maybe attending school in half-day shifts, or maybe every other day. Lunch at their desks, no congregating in the gym or auditorium, no football.That’s what Superintendent Pedro Martinez believes school will look like at his 100 campuses in the San Antonio Independent School District this fall. In an hour-long live streamed question-and-answer session with the Express-News editorial board, he described a dramatically different school environment forced by the new realities of the coronavirus pandemic.It will be difficult, but for the...

San Antonio ISD superintendent plans to open schools Aug. 10

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