Entities respond to Coronavirus spread
As of Tuesday afternoon, all local schools have decided to close temporarily in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Snyder ISD teachers spent the beginning of the post-Spring Break week without students and planning for the rest of the semester.
Teachers at all Snyder campuses are learning to use online resources to reach students who may not be returning due to concerns about COVID-19.
As of now, Snyder ISD does plan to reopen for class on Monday, but staff are still monitoring the COVID-19 situation and preparing to begin posting classwork online should the need arise.
“We’re just trying to make sure that we have everything lined up to (move online) should we need to,” said Snyder ISD’s public information officer Valerie Morris.
Morris said that teachers will call their students’ parents throughout the week with more information on what resources will be needed should classes go completely online.
Morris said that the school did an online survey to see how many students had access to the Internet and the resources needed.
“We had about 2,000 students out of 2,500 respond, and there was about 9 percent that did not have Internet access,” she said. “So we’ve got pretty good numbers, and we’re going to try to fill in the blanks to see where we need to try to make connections.”
Morris said that should Snyder open on Monday, physically sending kids to school will still be optional.
“If parents are nervous and they don’t want to send their kids, we understand, and their absence will be excused as long as they let us know that they’re keeping their child home because of concerns about the Coronavirus,” she said. “We will make every attempt to keep them in the loop with their education, to make sure that they’re not falling behind.”
Hermleigh superintendent Cassie Petty released a video on the district’s Facebook page.
“Hermleigh ISD will be closed for the remainder of this week in order to give our staff time to plan and prepare for the weeks ahead. At this time we are planning to have our students return to school on Monday, March 23. Please understand, though, that this is a very fluid situation and changes rapidly.”
Petty said in the video that students on school meal plans will still be able to get food from the schools during the closure.
“We have made arrangements for students who receive breakfast and lunch from us to still get those services,” she said. “You can find details about our food service plans on our Facebook page as well as our website.”
Petty requested that parents monitor their children’s health and keep them home if they are sick or if parents feel uncomfortable sending them to school due to the pandemic.
“When and if school resumes on Monday, March 23, we ask that, if your student is sick, please keep them home,” she said. “If you’re not comfortable sending your child to school, keep them home. Know that these absences are going to be excused. If we should have to close for an extended period of time, we will have a plan in place to make sure that we are meeting the educational needs of your children.”
Ira ISD Principal Dale Jones posted a letter on the school’s Facebook page to the district’s parents.
“At this time, we have made the decision to close the school from March 18-29,” Jones said in the letter. “Our faculty and staff have been working on a plan to continue instruction in the event of a school closure.”
Jones said that student instruction will resume on Monday, March 30.
“Services provided will also include meals, counseling and special education requirements,” Jones said in the letter.
According to the letter, elementary students (K-6) will have instructional packets to pick up on specified days, including “paper/pencil work” and materials available online.
“We will send home the iPads for students in grades 1-6 during the first designated pick-up,” the letter stated.
Students in grades 7 through 12 will receive assignments online.
“Students will be required to check for their assignments on a daily basis. Secondary students have been encouraged to take their iPads and textbooks home on a daily basis,” according to the letter.
Teachers will be available daily to answer emails or phone calls about specific assignments, according to the letter.
Jennifer Haynes, principal of Snyder Christian School, said the school will be closed through April 10.
During that time, Haynes said students will use the Abeka online Christian curriculum to keep up with their schoolwork.
“They have amazing online resources,” Haynes said.
Western Texas College President Dr. Barbara Beebe said the college will finish out the semester online. Classes with a more hands-on format, like Career and Technical Education classes, are still in the planning stages.
“We are doing all of our classes online. All of the academic classes will go online,” Beebe said. “We’re still in development stages of what we’ll do with CTE, which is our welding and our linemen, because there are certain things you can’t do online. Those we’re going to be working with the students and the faculty on. We do have a number of students on campus and we will service them as best we can with the online classes as well.”
Many WTC activities have been canceled, most notably, perhaps, commencement.
“We’ve canceled the rodeo. All athletic events have been canceled until the end of the semester. Commencement has been canceled,” Beebe said. “We’re going by the CDC recommendation of no more than 10 people in a group now for the next eight weeks. So that’s where we stand right now.”
The school will work with students who don’t have a computer or internet access at home.
“For a student that might not, and there are some who might have computers, but they might not have internet hookup at home or whatnot,” she said. “An instructor can manage different modes of instruction. They can put together packets of information to try and help the students.”