SAN ANTONIO – The discussions surrounding the start of a new school year are completely different this year.
Instead of shopping for new backpacks and outfits for the first day of school, parents are checking Wi-Fi connections and watching for updates from their school districts.
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The upcoming school year, like so many aspects of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been uncertain.
At the center of the discussions being had is how do we keep our students and teachers safe, while also making sure no child falls behind in the process?
This is what we wanted to explore in this week’s episode of KSAT Explains.
In this episode, you will hear from local superintendents, educators, parents and students from all parts of the city. They shared their concerns with in-class instruction, classroom safety and the pros and cons of remote learning.
HOW WE GOT HERE
There has been so much uncertainty that it can be hard to wrap your head around what plans are for back-to-school.
Information seems to change by the day and the guidelines for this upcoming school year have been hard to follow.
Krista Torralva, an education reporter with the San Antonio Express-News, spoke to KSAT Explains about the ever-changing landscape and the back-and-forth between the Texas Education Agency, state officials and local health authorities.
LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS
Plans to reopen classrooms are an evolving work-in-progress for every San Antonio-area school district.
Districts that have released guidelines have to remain flexible as they watch how the virus continues to affect the community.
KSAT Explains spoke to the superintendents of Edgewood, Northside and San Antonio ISDs about the challenges of leading educators in this pandemic, and some of the biggest things weighing on their minds as they plan for the school year.
TEACHER CONCERNS
Not until it's safe. That's the message we have heard from some teachers preparing for the new school year. KSAT Explains spoke with three area teachers to hear what they think about returning to the classroom.
QUICK GUIDE TO WHAT ELSE YOU WILL SEE IN THIS EPISODE OF KSAT EXPLAINS:
- Parents discuss the difficult decision they face in sending their children back to classrooms.
- How Texas private and parochial schools will approach back-to-school.
- Is homeschooling an option for parents and what is a neighborhood “school pod?”
- What some local students are saying about a possible return to classrooms.
- How a recent UIL decision has affected the start of high school sports in Texas this fall.
For this episode, we created a word cloud to determine what subjects our educators, parents and students discussed the most.