WHITNEY, Texas (KWTX) - Danielle Pence’s son started kindergarten on Thursday in Whitney and Pence said she did not have a hard time with the decision to send him back to school, although she said the boy’s father did have some concerns.
The new school year started Thursday in both the Whitney and Abbott ISDs.
Pence said she thinks the Whitney ISD is prepared to keep her son safe and help him learn.
Pence said she feels prepared by the school, with lots of information shared online and through emails to parents.
“They keep their Facebook posts pretty up to date,” Pence said.
“They send us emails for surveys and things like that, especially before they had done the remote learning option.”
Pence said her son is healthy, and she thought it was important for his mental health for him to be in school and learning around other children.
They’ve been out of school for so long, it’s just to the point where they’re asking ‘well why don’t our friends want to play with us anymore,’ and things like that,” Pence said.
Like other schools in the area, Whitney ISD has developed a plan online to keep students safe in the classroom.
Students third grade and older, as well as staff and teachers, will be required to wear masks while inside.
Parents must screen children for any symptoms of COVID-19 before the students go to school and to keep them home if they feel the child may be sick.
Teachers and staff will also be screening themselves every morning before coming to work.
All teachers and staff were given face shields and masks to wear in the building.
In the classroom students will be socially distanced as much as possible, and students are encouraged to wash their hands frequently throughout the day.
If there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 on campus, the school district said it will contact local health officials and will close areas of the school where the infected person was.
The district says it will also notify all staff, teachers and families of students of a confirmed case.
Under Texas Education Agency guidelines, school districts must offer both in-person and online options to students and districts may choose to limit access to on-campus instruction for the first four weeks of the fall term and may seek waivers to extend the period to eight weeks.
The guidelines do provide exceptions for students whose families don’t have internet access or devices required for virtual learning.
The TEA also gave districts flexibility in deciding when to resume instruction and a number in the area opted to wait until after Labor Day to start the new school year.
The new school year started Wednesday in the China Spring, Crawford, Gholson, Itasca, Kopperl, Lometa, Mart and Rosebud ISDs.
Classes also resumed Wednesday at Bishop Louis Reicher Catholic School in Waco, Holy Trinity Catholic School in Killeen and St. Mary’s Catholic School in West.
Clifton ISD, Dawson ISD, Jonesboro ISD, Lorena ISD, Walnut Springs ISD and EOAC Charter School all started school in person and online Monday.
Killeen ISD, Marlin ISD and Harmony Science Academy in Waco all started school virtually.
Killeen ISD is taking advantage of a new virtual online learning platform with a mix of live teaching and other online elements. Killeen ISD starts in-person instruction on Sept. 8.
Marlin ISD is also going online using Google Classrooms.
Instruction resumed Tuesday in the Copperas Cove, Blooming Grove and Bosqueville ISDs and at Central Texas Christian School in Temple and Eagle Christian Academy in Waco.
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The Link LonkAugust 21, 2020 at 12:38AM
https://www.kwtx.com/2020/08/20/decision-to-send-kindergartner-to-school-wasnt-a-hard-one-local-mom-says/
Decision to send kindergartner to school wasn't a hard one, local mom says - KWTX
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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