Originally published on 6/10/2020
As school districts around the state prepare to return in the fall, Alvin ISD district leaders have been working on a plan that will best serve the families of Alvin ISD.
That plan starts with making a change to the 2020-21 calendar. At the Tuesday, June 9, Alvin ISD Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees approved changing the start date from August 20, 2020 to August 12, 2020.
“No one knows what the 2020-21 school year will look like, but according to TEA, the upcoming school year is likely to be disrupted and Alvin ISD wants to be prepared for these disruptions,” Alvin ISD Superintendent Carol Nelson shared. “Having those extra days built into our calendar provides more flexibility to address our students’ academic needs.”
The new calendar adds six additional instructional days and decreases the number of District professional development days. The school year is still scheduled to end on May 28, 2021. The approved calendar can be found at www.alvinisd.net/calendar.
Alvin ISD has continued to plan for the reopening of campuses in the fall by creating a large committee to assist. The Alvin ISD Forward 2020 Committee consist of district administrators, campus administrators, parents, and teacher leaders.
These groups are divided into subcommittees focused on specific areas. With the status of the COVID-19 situation unclear in the coming months, Alvin ISD is making several contingency plans for the reopening schools.
A subcommittee that is focused on student learning is planning for three scenarios:
- Face-to-face instruction - all students are back in our schools receiving in-person instruction as they did most of the 2019-2020 school year. This scenario will include a blended instructional platform that involves in-person instruction as well as the use of Google Classroom, district-wide, for specific instructional areas. This will ensure that students are familiar with the virtual platform in the event we have to quickly switch to an all-virtual setting again.
- Virtual instruction - all students are at home receiving remote instruction. Google Classroom will be used as the learning platform district-wide.
- Hybrid model - some students are back in our schools receiving in-person instruction and some students are at home receiving virtual instruction.
“The chosen scenario will be based on the guidelines we continue to receive from the Texas Education Agency and the CDC that details rules pertaining to the health and safety of our students and staff,” shared Jennifer Valdez, Alvin ISD Deputy Superintendent of Academics.
“As you know, these guidelines continue to be updated frequently. Therefore, we are planning for the various scenarios so we can be prepared for any situation. For any type of virtual learning that happens, we will have a better system than we had during the recent closure. We were not afforded time for planning and training with teachers for that situation. Now we have time to plan and have a better organized, more instructionally robust, and more effective learning system for our students.”
For students to be back in schools for face-to-face instruction, the current guidelines will cause Alvin ISD to make many changes to best ensure the health and safety of students and staff.
“If the current social distancing guidelines are still in place in August, there are many changes needed to welcome students back to our schools. Some of the questions our subcommittees are working on answering are, what procedures do we need in place to keep our students and staff healthy at school? What procedures do we need to get students to school and home safely? How are classrooms reorganized with new guidelines in place? How do students safely move throughout the campus? These are important questions and we need to be able to have plans in place to abide by these social distancing guidelines.” Valdez stated.
The subcommittees will continue to meet throughout the summer weeks in order for the District to be prepared for the reopening of schools in August.
“As we continue to receive more information from the Texas Education Agency, we will communicate firm plans to our parents. This is a very fluid situation, and we will do our very best to keep our Alvin ISD community up-to-date. No matter what happens, we are committed to the health and wellness of staff and students, excellent and equitable student learning experiences, and safe operation of all our facilities,” shared Nelson.