WACO, Texas —
Waco Independent School District said it plans to delay it’s school year for three weeks as the district continues to iron out plans for the new school year. Instead of the first day of school on August 18, it would now be on September 8. This has yet to be approved by the school board, who will meet on July 23.
Waco ISD Superintendent Susan Kincannon said TEA regulations and requirements have made making plans difficult.
"Things are developing. They are still somewhat fluid for us. The vision is getting a little bit clearer, but it certainly has been a challenge to plan," Kincannon said. "Slowing things down a bit for the fall on September 8th seems to make a lot of sense to us
The school district did a professional survey of a random sample of 400 parents earlier in the year and found that 50% of parents preferred a hybrid model over in-person or remote learning. A teacher survey indicated 54% wanted a hybrid model. Unfortunately, Superintendent Susan Kincannon said the new TEA requirements make this impossible.
Kincannon said the TEA requires one parent option to provide five days of in-person instruction. The School district also wanted to be able to provide an online-only plan as a backup. They don't have the resources to provide an additional third option, even though it helped address teacher safety concerns.
Kincannon said the delay would be beneficial for several reasons.
“We are rolling out a new learning management system for the fall and we think our teachers need more time to learn to use the system and develop really quality lessons for the fall,” Kincannon said. “We just need a little time to make sure we are prepared to do that.”
Kincannon also told 6 News that the task force plans for the new year made wearing a mask a priority, even Governor Greg Abbott relaxed his order.
"Waco ISD will be implementing a requirement to wear masks to school. We will back that down below the age of 10. Pre-K and kindergarten become a little bit tricky so we will work with our teachers there," Kincannon said.
WACO ISD is spending $2.5 Million on 8000 new computers for teachers and students, upgrading the WiFi on campuses for greater range and buying more hotspot devices for students to use at home.
The school district will be holding a town hall for parents next week and will email parents the following week asking them to select in-class or online learning so the district can better plan for the fall.
The end date for the school year would be June 10, 2021, if the new schedule is approved/
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