Austin ISD issued the following announcement.
Dear Austin ISD Family,
Thank you for coming together to ensure a successful week of 100% remote learning and mass testing in our school district. This morning when I met with my team, we kicked off the meeting by asking the question designed to focus our work, “And how are the children?”
I am writing to provide you with a summary of the most recent information I shared with our Board of Trustees last night. Below you will find key messages from my report. For further review, please find the full presentation here.
Remote instruction and testing
Last week, in anticipation of post-Thanksgiving transmission and exposure rates being high, we transitioned to 100% remote learning and partnered with Austin Public Health to offer rapid testing at 6 of our facilities. This team effort resulted in 1,790 individual tests, which resulted in 43 positive results. An additional 26 positives reported by individuals, reinforced our decision to close, as that was the largest number of positive cases we had seen in our district.
This week, with the return of on-campus learning, I would like to remind our community that rapid tests will continue to be offered at all of our campuses. Additionally, in partnership with Austin Public Health, we have rolled out in-home testing for staff and students at 32 Title I schools and we have signed on at the state level to advocate for teachers to be prioritized in the vaccine distribution priority group.
Accommodations
When we keep the question, “How are the children?” in mind, our commitment is to serve our students in the best way possible. TEA requires us to have our schools open to in-person learning. We are committed to providing a safe environment for both students and staff. In addition to having our Human Capital team working with individuals who have requested accommodations, we are working with Education Austin to identify how we might provide flexibility at our campuses.
I appreciate all of the different perspectives that have been shared with me. I recognize this is a challenging time - for everyone. Working together, we can provide the excellent education each student deserves.
Thank you for your dedication to our students,
Stephanie S. Elizalde, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Original source can be found here.
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