ARANSAS COUNTY, Texas — 3News spoke with Aransas County ISD Superintendent Joey Patek. The district pushed back the first day of school to August 17.
Students will be doing virtual learning only with school administered chrome books for three weeks. Parents will then have the option to send their kids back to the classroom or not.
They can also switch options after the grading period is done. Virtual learning began during the spring semester but since then teachers have undergone additional training.
Patek says this year secondary school students will have a block schedule, so they'll only have up to four classes a day.
“What we've done is go to the block scheduling is limiting instead of transitioning eight times. We're only going to transition four times,” said Patek.
This will result in less close interaction between students. Schools will also have one-way hallways and hand sanitizing stations throughout campus.
One safety measure the district has decided to opt out of is temperature checks.
“We listened to the commissioner and some of the research that we heard it that they're not as reliable as people think they are,” said Patek.
When anyone enters school buildings the must wear masks or face shields.
The district will provide curbside meals to students while they are virtual learning and either deliver to classrooms or have socially distanced lunch periods once kids are back on campus.
Patek encourages parents to remind their kids to practice frequent hand washing, sanitizing, and social distancing that way the habit follows them to campus.