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AISD's (and other districts) Plans for Schools Starting August 18


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7 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Seems risky to assume that homeschooling or pods can keep up with the school's curriculum, when you don't even know what that curriculum is because there's no remote option, and then just dropping them into school in the middle of the academic year after the kids are vaccinated. 

Agree. This group is largely affluent, had good pods last year, and didn’t experience a lot of learning loss so they view it a little differently. 

From the school’s perspective, we are trying to re-engage with the community and rebuild relationships and this would cause more disruption. Everybody is looking for consistency.

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33 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

The doctors in my school community seem to think they will have access in October or November.

Talked to my kid's pediatrician this morning at a well check.  She's frustrated as hell, and doesn't expect anything until December for the next age cohort.  Hope yours have a better finger on the pulse.

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This is interesting:

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/07/20/austin-schools-limited-virtual-learning-covid-delta-variant-cases/8014739002/

 

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Amid concerns of rising COVID-19 cases of the delta variant, Austin school officials are weighing options to address student safety concerns, including by exploring limited virtual instruction.

Earlier this summer, the school district announced it would not offer a virtual learning option in the fall because state officials aren't making funding available for students not physically present in the classroom during the upcoming school year.

A bill that would have funded public school districts for local remote learning programs fell through in the final days of the regular legislative session, prompting many school districts across the state to cancel virtual classes for the fall.

But Austin Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde told the American-Statesman editorial board this week that district officials are considering offering "small group, virtual instruction" by modifying the district's program for homebound students or dipping into its federal coronavirus funds.


The district could build upon an existing program for students who cannot attend classes for several weeks under doctors' orders, she said, by including virtual instruction in addition to the weekly visits teachers conduct to drop off learning materials and check in on students.

Under the program, the district does not lose funding for the students' absences. But students need a doctor's note to qualify, so Elizalde said district officials were working to see if unvaccinated students, especially those with pre-existing conditions, could be excused from in-person classes because of COVID-19.


"We think it's a very viable option," she said. "So we're exploring that, so we can help our parents with specifically what it is the note would have to say to qualify them."

The district also could look to use its federal coronavirus funds to continue virtual learning for a limited number of slots, but that would prove harder to coordinate because of the more limited funding, she said.

"The size of our district makes it a lot more challenging because you have to then decide what are the characteristics or the criteria you're going to use," she said.

District officials said they did not yet have a timeline for a decision on the possible virtual options, but they said they would keep families informed. 

Elizalde said district officials also are keeping the possibility of a broader virtual learning program in their "back pocket" in case state lawmakers add funding for local virtual learning programs during one of the several special legislative sessions expected to be called by Gov. Greg Abbott.

How Austin plans to protect students, staff from COVID, Delta variant
For now, the district is encouraging vaccinations and masks to prepare for students' return to campuses, though officials cannot mandate masks nor COVID-19 vaccines under state rules. Vaccinations are available for people age 12 and older. A vaccine for children 11 and younger is expected to be available in the fall.

The district is continuing precautions such as using plexiglass and social distancing of at least 3 feet. Officials also are planning to create a new committee that will include teachers and employees in the school reopening planning process and to offer data on how many students at each campus have been designated by their parents to wear masks while in school. 

"By asking which parents want us to enforce it throughout the day, we'll be able to have that percentage" Elizalde said.


Can the Austin school district mandate COVID quarantines?


Elizalde also said district officials are consulting with an outside attorney on whether they could enforce quarantines for those who are found to have been exposed or test positive for COVID-19.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has told superintendents that school districts cannot mandate quarantines, she said. 

"We don't think the commissioner can tell us whether we can quarantine or not. We think that's a health authority issue," she said. 

Texas law allows local health authorities to issue "control measures," including quarantine and isolation orders, within their jurisdictions to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The Texas Department of State Health Services can revise or revoke orders from local health authorities. 

More:Travis County COVID-19 vaccine tracker: 56% of people fully vaccinated

But school leaders also historically have been able to instruct students to stay home if there is concern for an outbreak, Elizalde said.

"Before COVID, when we'd have something that would come up, we have always been able to say to parents, 'We need you to keep your children home for the next whatever period of time if they had had exposure,'" she added. "So I'm a little confused why COVID would be different."

Elizalde said she expects to receive a legal opinion by the end of the month and, possibly, as soon as the end of this week.

District officials also are looking at creating "isolation rooms" for students exposed to the coronavirus and whose parents may decline to keep them home.


In guidance, the Texas Education Agency has said students must be present in school to count toward a school's average daily attendance, meaning school districts would lose funding for the days students miss school to quarantine.

More:With Austin-area COVID cases quickly rising, health leaders urgently aim for more vaccinations

"Even if it does cost us, we must do what is in the best interest, long term, of our students and health and safety has to come first," she said.

Students who quarantine would receive some virtual instruction from central office staff, Elizalde said.

District officials last week said they would release more information about public health guidelines, student absences and quarantines by Thursday.

 

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Prediction for the fall:  100% Clusterfuck.

Mississippi has fewer people than Houston.

And this was last week:

That's not many kids, but if Texas fucks around and shit gets bad in the fall, and you start seeing a ton of kids show up in the ICU, you'll see the Karens flipping out like never before.

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Just now, ZB'Tejas said:

Oldest starts Kindergarten in less than a month... not looking forward to how this unfolds.

Both of our kids will be in school next month.  We take them to the neighborhood parks, and so far very few are masked up.

We do have a lot of medical folks in our area, whose kids go to our kids' school, so hopefully there will be plenty masked up.

We are sending our kids back to school with kick-ass looking masks. 

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Has anyone seen numbers on how many kids bailed from AISD last year?  Just anecdotally from the parents I know that either moved or went private I would think it has to be significant.  Between the shitshow of last year, the PTA defunding middle finger to parents who have been keeping AISD schools functioning and afloat for a decade, and, let's not forget, the heavy push for bussing that damn near happened and will undoubtedly come up again soon, it's hard to imagine there will be much of an AISD left if they also fuck up this fall.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add to the list how dangerously close AISD was to having the State take over the district before Covid hit.  One more failing grade for one of the middle schools and the State could move in.  I assume they got a pass for last year, and I have no idea if the count restarts this year or if a failing grade this year will result in the option for takeover.  What a mess.

Edited by Samson's Wig
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From the article posted above:


Elizalde also said district officials are consulting with an outside attorney on whether they could enforce quarantines for those who are found to have been exposed or test positive for COVID-19.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has told superintendents that school districts cannot mandate quarantines, she said. 

"We don't think the commissioner can tell us whether we can quarantine or not. We think that's a health authority issue," she said. 

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30 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Has anyone seen numbers on how many kids bailed from AISD last year?  Just anecdotally from the parents I know that either moved or went private I would think it has to be significant.  Between the shitshow of last year, the PTA defunding middle finger to parents who have been keeping AISD schools functioning and afloat for a decade, and, let's not forget, the heavy push for bussing that damn near happened and will undoubtedly come up again soon, it's hard to imagine there will be much of an AISD left if they also fuck up this fall.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add to the list how dangerously close AISD was to having the State take over the district before Covid hit.  One more failing grade for one of the middle schools and the State could move in.  I assume they got a pass for last year, and I have no idea if the count restarts this year or if a failing grade this year will result in the option for takeover.  What a mess.

We won’t know about enrollment until the end of August. I’ll file that in the “who the hell knows” category.

The legislature said PTAs can fund positions. There a timing issue related to school district budgets and when new laws go into effect but they will be back.

Bussing wasn’t close to happening. It was never really considered.

This year counts in terms of all the ratings. The new admin team is really strong with academic systems that prevent that type of failure. Previous admin basically had no systems in place so it’s not a surprise that some schools fell through the cracks. 

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10 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

We won’t know about enrollment until the end of August. I’ll file that in the “who the hell knows” category.

The legislature said PTAs can fund positions. There a timing issue related to school district budgets and when new laws go into effect but they will be back.

Bussing wasn’t close to happening. It was never really considered.

This year counts in terms of all the ratings. The new admin team is really strong with academic systems that prevent that type of failure. Previous admin basically had no systems in place so it’s not a surprise that some schools fell through the cracks. 

The lege had to get involved as AISD is seemingly trying to race everyone to the bottom in terms of support.

For Casis for example the PTA funds 100% of these extra positions: reading specialist, math specialist, gym, spanish etc

At poorer schools these positions would still be funded out of AISD budget. AISD was going to take all these positions away from Casis and not have them had the lege not intervened. On the heels of all of how AISD basically went it alone in comparison to DISD, HISD, EISD, LTISD etc it was pushing a perfect storm of west Austin defections.

We have stuck it out but the drop in kids going to O'Henry this fall for my rising 6th grader vs when my older son (he is a rising 9th grader) is dramatic.

AISD needs to work on some serious parent outreach vs trying to make their kids in school experience worse than it was.

 

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1 minute ago, BrazilHorn said:

The lege had to get involved as AISD is seemingly trying to race everyone to the bottom in terms of support.

For Casis for example the PTA funds 100% of these extra positions: reading specialist, math specialist, gym, spanish etc

At poorer schools these positions would still be funded out of AISD budget. AISD was going to take all these positions away from Casis and not have them had the lege not intervened. On the heels of all of how AISD basically went it alone in comparison to DISD, HISD, EISD, LTISD etc it was pushing a perfect storm of west Austin defections.

We have stuck it out but the drop in kids going to O'Henry this fall for my rising 6th grader vs when my older son (he is a rising 9th grader) is dramatic.

AISD needs to work on some serious parent outreach vs trying to make their kids in school experience worse than it was.

 

I’m a principal facing similar issues with PTA. 

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1 hour ago, BrazilHorn said:

The lege had to get involved as AISD is seemingly trying to race everyone to the bottom in terms of support.

For Casis for example the PTA funds 100% of these extra positions: reading specialist, math specialist, gym, spanish etc

At poorer schools these positions would still be funded out of AISD budget. AISD was going to take all these positions away from Casis and not have them had the lege not intervened. On the heels of all of how AISD basically went it alone in comparison to DISD, HISD, EISD, LTISD etc it was pushing a perfect storm of west Austin defections.

We have stuck it out but the drop in kids going to O'Henry this fall for my rising 6th grader vs when my older son (he is a rising 9th grader) is dramatic.

AISD needs to work on some serious parent outreach vs trying to make their kids in school experience worse than it was.

 

My youngest grandson is heading to O’Henry next month. 

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Not AISD, but my 3 yr old’s daycare had a teacher test positive this week. All kids required to stay home for 5 days and produce a negative test result before returning. I can only imagine how fucked up a full fledged school is going to be this year. 

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2 hours ago, Armybrat said:

My youngest grandson is heading to O’Henry next month. 

That's awesome, you partied with him before he changed it to O. Henry.  Some say that sky comma was the last leaf, I mean the last straw. 

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Just got a note that AISD is exploring remote learning within governor’s edict. 
No way am I doing another year of Zoom school. 
So much data that shows kids in school aren’t issue. Mask em up but they can’t keep remote learning. 
You will keep learning gap between rich/poor at an exponential level with another Zoom year. 

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15 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

Just got a note that AISD is exploring remote learning within governor’s edict. 
No way am I doing another year of Zoom school. 
So much data that shows kids in school aren’t issue. Mask em up but they can’t keep remote learning. 
You will keep learning gap between rich/poor at an exponential level with another Zoom year. 

Exactly correct.  

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14 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

Just got a note that AISD is exploring remote learning within governor’s edict. 
No way am I doing another year of Zoom school. 
So much data that shows kids in school aren’t issue. Mask em up but they can’t keep remote learning. 
You will keep learning gap between rich/poor at an exponential level with another Zoom year. 

I got the email as well.

Remote learning is an option for those whose kids are compromised as far as their immune system or family members.  It's not required.

Also, they still aren't pushing quarantine for those kids exposed (the lawyers are still working that out), but they are saying if your kid is sick, they need to be at home, and can only return with a doctor's note clearing them or negative PCR test.  

I think they put that out there, thinking TEA won't try and fight them on it, because the TEA knows the Karens will be out in full force if parents can send their sick kids back to school.

Without getting into CR territory, and just focusing on the local stuff, there are a lot of discussions happening between the local and state levels, and now that things are really ramping up thanks to fucking Delta, the state may back off on blocking mask mandates at elementary and middle schools, with the caveat that it's only as long as vaccines aren't available for those age groups.  So they might be wearing masks through the spring at those levels.  

And that's assuming we don't get a bunch of kids in the hospital like Mississippi.

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On 7/20/2021 at 3:12 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Prediction for the fall:  100% Clusterfuck.

Mississippi has fewer people than Houston.

And this was last week:

That's not many kids, but if Texas fucks around and shit gets bad in the fall, and you start seeing a ton of kids show up in the ICU, you'll see the Karens flipping out like never before.

These numbers don’t mean a ton without knowing how they stack up relative to previous waves. 

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1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

I got the email as well.

Remote learning is an option for those whose kids are compromised as far as their immune system or family members.  It's not required.

Also, they still aren't pushing quarantine for those kids exposed (the lawyers are still working that out), but they are saying if your kid is sick, they need to be at home, and can only return with a doctor's note clearing them or negative PCR test.  

I think they put that out there, thinking TEA won't try and fight them on it, because the TEA knows the Karens will be out in full force if parents can send their sick kids back to school.

Without getting into CR territory, and just focusing on the local stuff, there are a lot of discussions happening between the local and state levels, and now that things are really ramping up thanks to fucking Delta, the state may back off on blocking mask mandates at elementary and middle schools, with the caveat that it's only as long as vaccines aren't available for those age groups.  So they might be wearing masks through the spring at those levels.  

And that's assuming we don't get a bunch of kids in the hospital like Mississippi.

I have no issue with kids wearing masks in school. To me this is an easy "give" for the governor/TEA to offer. Kids need to be in person. (Obviously if this starts getting healthy/fit kids put in hospital all bets are off).

 

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57 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

These numbers don’t mean a ton without knowing how they stack up relative to previous waves. 

When you are talking about kids being put in the hospital, the numbers don't matter.

If we scaled those MS numbers to Texas, that would be 40+ kids in the hospital, with a dozen on life support.

Sure, that doesn't mean a lot - millions of kids in Texas after all, but a shitload of us kids in the 80s watched our parents change what we were allowed and not allowed to do, all because one kid was kidnapped from a mall and decapitated halfway across the country.

All you need is a few photos or video of a kid on an ventilator and you'll see parents lose their shit.

And unfortunately, because we are Texas, we have plenty of kids with underlying conditions and/or who are not the most physically fit.

This kind of stuff will freak people out

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/us/georgia-five-year-old-covid-death-trnd/index.html

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
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1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Also, they still aren't pushing quarantine for those kids exposed (the lawyers are still working that out), but they are saying if your kid is sick, they need to be at home, and can only return with a doctor's note clearing them or negative PCR test.  

I think they put that out there, thinking TEA won't try and fight them on it, because the TEA knows the Karens will be out in full force if parents can send their sick kids back to school.

Our school district flat out said that even if your sprog has COVID they can still come to school.  Next week’s meeting with the school district admin and parents should be fun.  Karen gone get crunk in that bitch.

 

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2 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Our school district flat out said that even if your sprog has COVID they can still come to school.  Next week’s meeting with the school district admin and parents should be fun.  Karen gone get crunk in that bitch.

Right now some parents are prepping.

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45 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Our school district flat out said that even if your sprog has COVID they can still come to school.  Next week’s meeting with the school district admin and parents should be fun.  Karen gone get crunk in that bitch.

 

From my understanding, they are following the law. No forced quarantines, no matter how reasonable. I would expect the same from almost every district.

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On 7/20/2021 at 5:39 PM, BrazilHorn said:

The lege had to get involved as AISD is seemingly trying to race everyone to the bottom in terms of support.

For Casis for example the PTA funds 100% of these extra positions: reading specialist, math specialist, gym, spanish etc

At poorer schools these positions would still be funded out of AISD budget. AISD was going to take all these positions away from Casis and not have them had the lege not intervened. On the heels of all of how AISD basically went it alone in comparison to DISD, HISD, EISD, LTISD etc it was pushing a perfect storm of west Austin defections.

We have stuck it out but the drop in kids going to O'Henry this fall for my rising 6th grader vs when my older son (he is a rising 9th grader) is dramatic.

AISD needs to work on some serious parent outreach vs trying to make their kids in school experience worse than it was.

 

My wife lost it when we heard about the initial announcement as we have our oldest heading to Casis Kinder in a month. Sent all kinds of letter to the board and Superintendent. Stephanie did respond and take a meeting with us to give us her side of things so I guess that's a start.

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13 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

I’d consider a redshirt year.  

I laughed several of our friends decided to send their kids to private Kinder to avoid this crap as I thought it would be well over by Fall 2021... well I was wrong I suppose

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5 minutes ago, ZB'Tejas said:

I laughed several of our friends decided to send their kids to private Kinder to avoid this crap as I thought it would be well over by Fall 2021... well I was wrong I suppose

A friend of ours is looking around at various private pre-k options, and of the half-dozen she's looked at, none are requiring masks or anything and are not taking any measures (but several have a whole "your kid must stay home if exposed/positive" rule).  I get it, people are tired of it, most kids have no problems if they catch it but at the same time, you run the risk of an outbreak that's going to have the Karens on your back screaming about how much they are paying and how dare you put them in a situation where their kid has to stay home because they caught it.

The last bit alone really pisses them off - a lot of them are thinking that they can get back to not having to watch their kids during the day, and can get back to fucking the pool boy or the 40-something guy next door who will actually listen to their problems (narrator: he's not).

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https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-announces-a-virtual-learning-option-for-k-6th-grade-families/

Quote

In a message to Austin ISD employees, Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde announced the district will be offering a virtual learning option to families of students in kindergarten through sixth grade this fall.

Quote

The details for the plan are still being worked out, but the superintendent promised more discussion on the subject at Monday night’s special called board meeting and then again on Friday, when the full written details will be released.

I've heard the state/TEA is backing down a bit on the 12-and-under crowd, as far as masks and virtual options, but nothing public yet (well this sounds like an indication that it's happening).

A lot of parents are hesitant if the schools aren't taking temperatures/screening, don't have the kids masked up, etc.

Edited by atomheartbevo
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The superintendent closed her note by promising teachers that there will be no concurrent instruction in the fall, meaning teachers won’t be required to extend themselves to both in-person and virtual students simultaneously.

That’s the only concern I have with a virtual option. Do as much virtual as you want but don’t let it interfere with the education of those in the classroom. That’s the only reason one of my kids stayed home last year, his in-person option was nothing more than virtual from a random classroom. It was worthless. 

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