Sept. 9 through 8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16
Due to a Federal Judge’s Ruling
USDE Backtracks on Mandating
Extra ISD Funding for Private Schools
Texas ISDs and other school systems in the U.S. may not have to share a larger percentage of their CARES Act funding with their nearby private non-profit schools (PNP) after all.
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UIL Medical Panel Tweaks Pandemic Rule
The UIL Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) met virtually (Sept. 13) and unanimously voted to make the requirement that a doctor’s clearance is needed before any student who tests positive for COVID-19 can participate in UIL activities apply to far fewer students.
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Other Coronavirus News
Optional Assessments
The TEA is reminding ISDs and charters that the deadline to sign up to administer the new Beginning of Year (BOY) Assessments for students who were in grades 3 or higher last school year is Oct. 9 (previously Sept. 18). Parents of students whose districts are not participating can also independently sign up their child for the assessments, which can be taken at home.
The assessments, created in response to the long-term closures of schools last Spring, are designed to show how well students have mastered grade-level knowledge and skills during the 2019-20 school year and to show how well they are prepared for the new school year.
The results won’t be used for district/campus accountability purposes.
Texas AFT’s COVID Reporting Portal
The Texas AFT launched (Sept. 10) an online tool for teachers and others to track pandemic-related cases and report unsafe working conditions on their campuses.
The union said it initiated the project after hearing that the state would only be officially reporting district-wide pandemic data, and not data from campuses.
At press time, the site had logged more than 600 reports.
The reporting tool is at: www.stopthespreadtx.school
TSTA Survey
The Texas State Teachers Association released (Sept. 14) the results of an online survey in which 664 TSTA members from 135 Texas districts reported more than 3,800 (as of press time) instances of what the respondents said were COVID-19 safety lapses in school districts and campuses.
The most mentioned problem was inadequate accommodations for high-risk employees or those with high-risk dependents at home, including by districts giving teachers with underlying health conditions the choice of teaching in classrooms or losing their jobs.
A lack of adequate fresh air ventilation systems and classrooms too small to comply with social distancing guidelines were also frequently mentioned.
In related news, the TSTA filed (Sept. 15), on behalf of the Killeen Educators Association, a grievance, accusing Killeen ISD of forcing teachers and paraprofessionals to work in an unsafe environment, including by touting procedures to protect employees but then failing to deliver on those promises.
KISD officials told Central Texas media that it would be “highly inappropriate” to discuss a grievance at this stage of the process.
This is reportedly the first (or one of the first) grievances to have been filed over a school-related pandemic concern. Grievances denied by ISDs can be appealed to the education commissioner.
Cyber Problems
As the school year began, computer glitches plagued districts in Texas and the nation. Three of the largest districts — Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth (and many other Texas districts) — were hit with technical problems that plagued the nation on Sept. 9 due to the surge in online traffic that impacted long-distance educational technology provider Blackboard.
And, students in a fourth grade class at a Leander ISD campus were exposed to about a minute of inappropriate sexual content during a Zoom call after the teacher admitted a person into the class who was using a student’s name. Law enforcement is investigating.