SAN ANTONIO – With Gov. Greg Abbott announcing that schools will stay closed for the rest of the academic year, local school districts are working on some unfinished business.
North Side ISD spokesman Barry Perez said that NISD administrators have not made a final decision on how to proceed with graduation for their 12 high schools and approximately 7,000 graduates, but they have secured dates for later in the summer.
“We are currently looking at ways that we can honor them,” Perez said. “We can celebrate them, but perhaps in a virtual way. So, while our goal is still to provide an ‘in- person’ live event, we are also working on additional options, in the event that that’s not possible.”
North Side ISD also looking at summer school, but with remote instruction.
“We have a small percentage of students who are not engaged, and we certainly worry about them. We worry for students who may not be receiving full mastery of that material, and so plans are underway now to develop some type of summer school that would address some of the instructional gaps,” Perez said.
He said officials are also working on a plan that will allow students to get personal belonging left behind at schools.
“When we left for spring break, many individuals left personal belongings there. Whether it was athletic lockers, band instruments, those kinds of things. And so, very soon, campuses will be rolling out procedures," Perez said.
He said those procedures may include belongings being brought out to students “curbside" but parents will be informed about the plans in the coming weeks.
North East ISD
North East ISD spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said administrators are waiting on advice from the Texas Education Agency before deciding how to proceed on graduations.
“We did send out something to our parents a couple of weeks ago letting them know that we are working on a Plan B for a virtual graduation,” Chancellor said. "That’s not something that we necessarily want to do. We would love to have a traditional 'in-person’ (graduation). We are still looking at other options, as well, as postponing it, having it in a different location, that sort of thing.”
Texas schools stay closed, online learning only through end of school year, Gov. Abbott said
Chancellor said the district is looking at proceeding with distance learning for summer school to ensure some students aren’t falling behind.
She said principals are also working on making arrangements for students to get belongings that may have been left behind since spring break.
San Antonio ISD
San Anotnio ISD Chief Academic Officer Patti Salzmann said district administrators are planning to meet about graduation on Tuesday and are expected to make an announcement about how they will proceed by the end of the week.
As far as summer school goes, Salzmann said they are looking at virtual options with their teachers.
Salzmann said administrators are waiting on a time when it is safe to have students pick up items left behind at school since spring break and that they are following recommendations from the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March. The first case confirmed in the U.S. was in mid-January and the first case confirmed in San Antonio was in mid-February.
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