This week many of our schools throughout Texas have seen a rise in COVID cases. This had led to some schools closing until they complete a deep cleaning in their schools. The idea that we are losing both students and teachers is sad and leaves us at a significant loss. Then SAISD announced that they are trying to locate 3,000 students that haven’t returned to school. So, now SAISD is trying to find these students by going out to the student’s last known address to ensure that they are aware that they can return to school. This may not seem like a lot, but currently, SAISD has a total of 48,000 students enrolled in our district. Then like most schools, we are short teachers, which causes more issues. If anyone can apply to be a substitute teacher, janitor, and other staff, please use the SAISD website at (Human Resources Home – SAISD https://www.saisd.net). This could be the first step in helping our schools become more successful this year.
Next, the latest news from Governor Greg Abbott is that he will allow all schools that scored a C or higher to offer remote learning but only to students that passed their STAAR tests, which means that all students that didn’t pass these tests will have to stay in school for in person learning. The scores from 2021, we saw a massive drop in Math and Reading scores which our district says is due to remote learning. If only the students that passed these tests are allowed to stay home and learn remotely, what does this mean for those who didn’t pass? This means that they will have no choice but to attend school daily. The other big question is do we have enough teachers to help those that are learning remotely. All of this nonsense makes it hard to believe that Texas cares about all of our students and teachers. The idea that students that didn’t pass their STAAR’S test are being forced to attend school seems a little unfair in many ways. I believe that we need to consider that we need to keep everyone safe during this pandemic, which means that if we see a rise in COVID cases, then parents should have the right to choose if their child returns to school. If this was a typical school year, then I will say that in-person learning benefits everyone, but this COVID has changed our lives. This means that living in this pandemic is our new normal, and we need to make sure that we all follow all safety protocols. Many of us are still confused about our children having to wear a mask, but if this can help save lives, let us encourage your child to wear one. Parents understand that you have the right to choose if your child should or shouldn’t wear a mask, but if we want to make our schools safer, let us make sure all staff, teachers, and students are doing their part to help end this pandemic.
Lastly, at this point, I am worried about our entire educational system as our lawmakers continue to make more decisions based on testing scores. These tests will not help our children in the future; instead, we need to concentrate on the basics of reading, writing, and math skills. If our lawmakers allow our teachers the freedom to walk away from teaching the STAAR’S test curriculum, then our students will be able to close these learning gaps in all subjects.
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