LA VERNIA, Texas – After Thanksgiving, remote learning will no longer be offered at the La Vernia Independent School District following its school board’s decision on Monday.
Hensley Cone, Ph.D., the district’s superintendent, said their decision was preceded by about a month of discussion, weighing whether to bring back the remaining 300 students, from pre-school to high school, who were still learning online.
Officials sent the parents of those students a letter explaining what to expect.
Cone said the district had already gone from 75% to 90% of its 3,200 students who had to return to school.
During that time, Cone said, there was “very little transmission” of the novel coronavirus on campus.
“We’ve had a couple of positive cases this week, all contracted outside of the school district,” Cone said. “We might have three positive cases that might have happened this last week, but we probably quarantine 40 or 50 people.”
Cone said those people would be quarantined as a precaution.
“We’re taking care of our people to the nth degree,” Cone said.
He said the district even has its own team doing contact tracing, and a director of safety is overseeing the process.
Not only does the district perform deep cleaning nightly, but Cone also said similar precautions are taken throughout the day.
Cone said faculty, staff and students must do their part every day before coming to school. He said the district trusts that all of them will watch for symptoms, quarantine if necessary, and get tested.
“So far, people have been very, very open in communicating that,” Cone said.