BELL COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Education Agency just released updated guidelines on Aug. 19, and will now require school districts to contact students family if a classmate or teacher tests positive for COVID-19.
The TEA already changed guidelines on masking by stating mask provisions of GA-38 are not being enforced at this time because of litigation. Now schools are going to have to negotiate both.
Temple ISD Superintendent Bobby Ott told 6 News Friday, they had already planned to notify parents of close contacts.
"For us we plan on notifying everyone on campus. I do know that we have options for TEA's guidance to inform everyone in the classroom or the wing they were in...we are erring on the side of overcommunicating but that's OK," Ott said.
Temple ISD has 15 campuses, but for larger school districts, like Killeen's 52-campus district, notifying every class involved in a single case is a much greater undertaking. KISD Spokeswoman Taina Maya said the school district was relieved when they were previously told they didn't have to notify every close contact student when someone tested positive. Now they are spending the weekend setting up new protocols to make that happen.
"We are working over the weekend and all hours of the day. We will be communicating that and really put that into implementation by Monday. That is a very large task," Maya said.
Maya said TEA Commissioner of Education Mike Morath had previously stated this would not be required in a call before the last school year ended. Having the rules change after the school year started has made things challenging.
"It's a large undertaking," Maya said. "We don't want to take away from the administrators on campus."
Meanwhile, Temple ISD is also working to inform parents on what the new masking guidance means for the district. The TEA's new wording on masking is as follows:
"Please note, mask provisions of GA-38 are not being enforced as the result of ongoing litigation. Further guidance will be made available after the court issues are resolved."
Ott said this means the TEA is staying out of the court battle between Gov. Greg Abbott and the school districts or counties ignoring the order, but it does not give TISD a green light to mandate masking without consequences. Ott said the Abbott administration could still go after any district that put out a new masking requirement immediately.
"We could be fined for sure. I do know that's part of the governor's order, " Ott said. "That is the plan according to the attorney general. TEA is taking a position of neutrality... the governor's order is strong enough to stand on its own."
Maya also confirmed today that KISD had no more immunity to require masking than it did since GA-38 first came out.