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Howe Superintendent Kevin Wilson sent the following message to parents of students enrolled in Howe ISD about the upcoming school year.
“First of all, I want to thank everyone who completed the survey we sent out last week. That provided useful information to us as we continue to plan for the upcoming school year. I will address most of the questions that were asked at the end of the survey, but I may not be able to give definitive answers at this point in time.
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We received guidance from the Texas Education Agency earlier this week that has given us some direction for school starting in August. While we are still waiting for clarification on several issues, we do have some definitive answers about a few questions:
1. We will have in-person school beginning on our posted first day of school – August 19. 2. Remote instruction will be offered to those parents who are not comfortable sending their children to school.
We are finalizing our detailed back-to-school plan and will communicate it on or around July 24. At that time, parents will choose an instructional method for their children – in person or remote. The plan will include information detailing our policies regarding face masks, social distancing, transportation, lunch, recess, extracurricular activity participation, operational procedures and heath/ safety precautions. I know that these details may impact your decision, so we will have it available for your consideration.
While decisions have not been made final regarding these topics, I would like to share some information so you can at least be thinking about it. by students at certain times of the day or in large classes when they cannot spread out sufficiently. We expect a fairly significant number of students to engage in remote instruction, so our class sizes should be smaller than normal, and we can spread the students out in the classrooms. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that social distancing of 3-6 feet is effective, and we should be able to provide at least 3 feet or more of spacing between desks. If that is the case, students will most likely not be required to wear a mask when seated at their desks unless they are in close contact with their teacher.
Extra-curricular Activities –While we are still waiting for guidance from the UIL, it appears that athletics, band, and other activities are scheduled to begin as usual. There are currently social distancing guidelines in place, and we are adhering to those as communicated.
Operational Adjustments –In today’s world, it is a challenge to balance student safety with preserving normalcy. But if we must choose one over the other, we obviously will choose safety. Our goal is to make school as “normal” as possible, but we will look at several measures to prioritize student/staff safety. We cannot forget that while data shows that children are at less risk than adults, we have over 175 adults in the district that deserve consideration as well. Lunch, recess, passing periods, restroom breaks, and arrival/dismissal procedures will be modified as necessary in order to limit exposure, but we will try our best to have students eat in the cafeteria and go outside for recess and PE. I for one wouldn’t want to be cooped up in my classroom all day, so we understand the need to get out and get some fresh air. Large assemblies are unlikely to take place, though.
Face Masks –I know that face masks are a hot political topic right now, so I wanted to speak to that. Howe ISD will follow any orders given by state, county, or local officials. If the governor, county judge, or mayor issues a mask requirement, we are obligated to enforce it. There is some question regarding Governor Abbott’s current executive order, specifically whether masks are required if social distancing is possible. We have sought clarification on that, as it would impact mask requirements in the classroom. With or without an order, Howe ISD is considering a mask requirement for times when students cannot properly social distance, such as passing periods, labs, group projects, interacting with a teacher, etc. We understand the difficulty of wearing a mask all day, so that is not likely to be required. However, we may require masks to be worn Cleaning/Sanitizing –We are committed to regular cleaning of our classrooms, and especially the common areas. We have purchased Clorox electrostatic sprayers for each campus to better disinfect our buildings. While research shows that COVID is primarily contracted through airborne transmission, we will work diligently to disinfect and limit transmission through surface contact.
Hybrid Model –At one time we were considering a hybrid model of instruction, with students attending school in person on alternating days. While that was favorable to many people, TEA requirements mandate that we offer in person instruction to students every day, so that option really isn’t feasible at this time.
