On Thursday, Snyder ISD trustees approved delaying the start of school by three and a half weeks.
According to the newly approved calendar, classes for Snyder students will begin Tuesday, Sept. 8, immediately following the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7. Classes had been scheduled to start Aug. 12.
“There are three really big driving issues tied to that,” Superintendent Dr. Eddie Bland said. “Obviously the recent spike of COVID in Scurry County. Second was, we have a significant number of our students that have been indicating they want to use the virtual learning platform. We’re right now at 30-35 percent. That number has been increasing. This will allow us to have some additional days of professional development before the first day of school, making sure we have everything in place and our teachers are prepared to make it a quality online program. The virtual home learning is going to be significantly different than last spring. There will be attendance and academic performance expectations that will be the same as if they were on-campus students.”
Before the school board voted on the issue, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Rachael McClain said a recent survey indicated that 79 percent of parents favored the delayed start. Of those favoring the delay, 54 percent prefer their children learn in an on-campus setting and 45 percent prefer the virtual platform. Of those opposed to the delay, 87 percent prefer on-campus learning, while 13 percent favor the virtual platform.
According to McClain, 82 percent of staff responding to the survey preferred delaying the start of school.
McClain said that 1,156 people had responded to the survey, of which 74 percent were parents or guardians of a student or students, 16 percent were staff members and 10 percent were both parents and staff members.
In other business, the school board voted to spend up to $50,000 for asbestos abatement at the Snyder High School Student Center and the Conference Center at the district’s Transportation Facility.
“We had some water damage out at the Transportation Facility in our big conference room, and some ceiling tile dropped. When we started to do repair, we discovered asbestos, so we’re having to abate it,” Bland said. “And then we’re doing some remodel work in the student center at the high school and the floor is having to be replaced. When we started pulling up the ceramic tiles, we discovered that the mastic or the glue that they were put down with is asbestos-based. There’s not really a good way to encapsulate it. We can encapsulate it and seal it, but it’s something that’s going to have to be done, so we might as well do it now and do it right.”
Bland said that the district is still in the process of finalizing quotes on the work.