CROSBY ISD, GOOSE CREEK CONSOLIDATED ISD – Schools began face-to-face locally here last Tuesday under circumstances that are less than ideal, unprecedented and likely a logistical nightmare.
This week is an intensive experiment involving limited school bus occupancy, changed pick-up locations, new procedures in arrival, a bevy of new props like masks, shields, sanitizers, distancing and new rules to be enforced all in an effort to educate without infecting people with a virus that is undetected in nearly half of the cases that contract it.
A new phone application is ordered to better explain the bus situation. My Stop App from Versatrans is designed to notify parents of their child’s bus location and the estimated time of arrival at bus stops, allowing parents to plan accordingly, in Crosby ISD.
“With all the carefully prepared plans the district has put together, everything is new, most likely we will be adapting as we go,” said Crosby ISD Superintendent Scott Davis at a meeting.
There will be lightweight, portable sanitizer stands, desks divided by plastic partitions, plastic bagging for personal items, disinfectant spray as well as the required instruments to learn to write. Parents are asked to check for signs of illness and temperatures. Behavior monitoring on campus will need to be more strict. Every individual at the campuses will be asked to social distance.
Apart from all this, there will be differences from campus to campus in the same district dictated by circumstances. Masks are required even on the buses. Water fountains will not be accessible and students will be asked to bring their own water in the plastic container.
Crosby ISD will have face covering at all times, except during lunch, frequent hand washing is required for staff and students and there will be routine temperature checks throughout the day.
Secondary school hours will be from 7:15 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. A normative school bell schedule will be held. Students will eat in the cafeteria. Breakfast will be held as grab and go. Classroom desks will be physically spaced as much as possible. Bus riders will be screened before entering the bus and required to wear face coverings/masks.
Elementary attendance will be from 8:20 a.m. until 3:45 p.m.
Having expressed that, not all classmates will be coming back at the same time, some parents elected to continue remote and virtual schooling. Most teachers will be instructing about a dozen students face to face and more virtually still at home. Many students will be limited to a single room for the day including lunch. Gatherings when permitted will be outside.
Goose Creek Consolidated ISD will have a ratio of 15 students to one teacher.
Goose Creek has divided elementary campuses into A. attending from 7:45 a.m until 2:20 p.m. And B. attending from 8:15 a.m. until 2:50 p.m.
Junior school is divided into Group A 9 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and Group B from 1:00 p.m. until 5 p.m. Some teachers will start school earlier and leave earlier. There will be five 45 minute face to face classes.
High School at Goose Creek is divided into Group A from 7:15 a.m. until 11:25 a.m. while Group B is from 11:25 a.m. until 3:35 p.m. Extracurricular Activities are to be from 3:35 p.m. until 4:35 p.m.
Governor Greg Abbott effectively ordered schools to open on that date eight weeks after school opened virtually. First Ken Paxton, Attorney General, indicated that schools do not have the authority to remain closed. Then the TEA decided they will not fund districts that stay closed.
Although some measures will vary by officials of the school, Governor Abbott has ordered that everyone over the age of 10 must wear a mask.
The current understanding is that if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases related to the openings then the schools will be forced back into virtual modality as decided by the local school officials.
