NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – New Braunfels ISD is one of the last school districts in the area that’s headed back to class, and it is bringing in 10,000 students across 15 campuses in the area.
Officials say the district is seeing rapid expansion and staff is working to make sure students have the resources they need to move forward.
700 teachers and 1,300 staff members have spent the summer getting ready to have students back in their classrooms while NBISD provides iPads for their students.
This year, the district will see 50 bus drivers going on 1,100 routes to take students to schools, with a school resource officer on each campus. 80 custodians and 60 food workers will make sure classrooms are clean and students are well-fed, serving more than 16,000 meals in the first week alone.
At Carl Schurz Elementary School, Principal Orphalinda Bazan said staff is making sure to accommodate parents as well as students, hosting a “boo-hoo” breakfast for parents to privately shed a tear away from their little ones. She says the first week is all about making sure students can feel relaxed in their classrooms.
“I think if students are comfortable coming to school and they feel loved and cared for, they’ll thrive. It’s all about the relationships and we’ll stress that to our teachers,” Bazan said.
This week, high temperatures are expected across Texas, and NBISD says it wants to make sure that students are safe outside of the classroom. NBISD has moved athletic practices to the mornings when it’s cooler in accordance with UIL rules. Those rules state that any athletic practices must have mandatory water breaks, cool down zones, and cancel any practices altogether if the wet bulb globe temperature rises above 92.1 degrees on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature.
“Well, if it’s too hot to go outside, we don’t go outside,” said Bazan. “We do recess indoors. PE stays indoors. We encourage students to stay hydrated. They they bring water bottles to school, they take them outside with them”.
