SAN ANTONIO – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that school campuses across the state will remain closed to students for the remainder of the academic year, but learning is still expected to continue.
Some parents are now facing new responsibilities as they juggle different roles.
Dr. Cherises Rohar-Allegrini, an epidemiologist, is a mother of two and was recently appointed to San Antonio’s Health Transition team.
“It’s what you train for, and you’re capable of doing it,” she said.
Rohar-Allegrini said she wasn’t surprised students won’t be returning for to school.
“In a way, it’s almost an easier group to isolate,” Rohar-Allegrini said.
She and her husband work from home, where her two children will also finish up the school year. She admitted it has been a struggle juggling different roles, but she said she is on board with the new executive order.
“It’s straight-forward. Schools closed. End of story,” she said.
Other parents, like Stephanie Torres, hoped for a different outcome.
“Now that it’s official, we kind of just have to go with it,” Torres said.
Torres said she is fortunate to be a stay-at-home parent, but she said she never planned on being a teacher. She said it was difficult to adjust to the new technology. However, she said she is grateful San Antonio Independent School District provided students with resources.
Torres said she has a newfound respect for teachers who are still able to provide her children with an education.
“My gratitude and appreciation for the teachers is way more than I could tell them,” Torres said.
Rohar-Allegrini said life won’t be quick to return to normal
“This isn’t going to end in two weeks or four weeks. We’re gonna have to do the work we are doing in public health for at least the next four or five months,” she said.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
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