The Texas Education Agency has officially released its re-opening guidelines for schools across Texas for the 2020-2021 school year as it relates to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Moving forward under these guidelines, school districts, private schools, and public charter schools will decide policies and procedures for their students and families.
Houston Moms always strives to share the most up to date info to assist you in making the best decisions for your family. In that spirit, we have compiled this page of resources for you to easily reference as information becomes available.
Houston-Area School Districts COVID-19 Opening Plans
Below are links to the school districts with info posted about their COVID response plans. If plans were not readily available, the link to the district’s website will be linked. We will update the information as it becomes available. Please direct district-based questions to your school district.
- Aldine Independent School District
- Alief Independent School District
- Clear Creek Independent School District
- Conroe Independent School District
- Crosby Independent School District
- Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District
- Fort Bend Independent School District
- Galena Park Independent School District
- Houston Independent School District
- Huffman Independent School District
- Humble Independent School District
- Katy Independent School District
- Klein Independent School District
- Lamar Consolidated Independent School District
- New Caney Independent School District
- Pasadena Independent School District
- Pearland Independent School District
- Sheldon Independent School District
- Spring Independent School District
- Spring Branch Independent School District
- Tomball Independent School District
TEA Guidelines
Switching from virtual learning to in-class learning::
If a parent who chooses virtual instruction and then wants their child to switch to an on-campus instructional setting, they can do so, but school systems are permitted to limit these transitions to occur only at the end of a grading period, if it will be beneficial to the student’s instructional quality.
- If a parent requests virtual instruction and the school does not offer it, the parent may enroll in another school that does offer it for transfer students.
During the first three weeks of school, to facilitate an effective back-to-school transition process, school systems may temporarily limit access to on-campus instruction.
Temperature Checks::
School systems must require teachers and staff to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms before coming onto campus each day. School systems may consider screening students for COVID-19 as well.
Parents must ensure they do not send a child to school on campus if the child has COVID-19 symptoms OR is lab-confirmed with COVID-19.
- Regularly performing a forehead temperature check of otherwise asymptomatic students in school is not recommended, but the practice is also not prohibited by this guidance.
- Parents may also opt to have their students receive remote instruction if their child has had close contact with an individual who is lab-confirmed with COVID-19 until the 14-day incubation period has passed.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are::
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
Notifications of COVID-19 Positive Cases
- at least three days (72 hours) have passed since recovery (resolution of fever
without the use of fever-reducing medications), AND - the individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of
breath), AND - at least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
Cleaning and Sanitizing
Masks
Schools are required to comply with the governor’s executive order regarding the wearing of masks (whatever the executive order is at the time).
- Masks include non-medical grade disposable face masks, cloth face coverings (over the nose and mouth), or full-face shields to protect eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Schools must require students, teachers, staff, and visitors to wear masks or face shields when entering and exiting facilities and practice areas and when not actively engaging in some UIL activities and extracurricular activities.
- Schools may, for example, allow students who are actively exercising to remove masks or face shields, as long as they maintain at least six feet of distance from other students, teachers, and staff who are not wearing masks or face shields. However, schools must require students, teachers, and staff to wear masks or face shields as they arrange themselves in positions that will allow them to maintain safe distancing.
In the Classroom
- staggering school start and end times
- assigning students to entries to ensure even distribution of students entering/exiting at each door
- providing guidance to students to enter one at a time and wait six feet apart outside the entrance
- where appropriate, encouraging parents to remain outside during drop-off and pick-up
- keeping students socially distanced during lunch times, be it having lunch in the classrooms or the use of dividers
- individually plating meals with disposable food service items for students who do not bring their own lunch.
Buses and Transportation
Visitors
You can read the full document here, including details for teachers and staff members and UIL/non-UIL sports and extracurricular activities.