Superintendent of Schools

Quicklinks

Gradually bringing small numbers of students back - Aug. 27, 2020

08/27/2020

Dear SAISD Staff:

We are seeing improvement in the COVID-19 health metrics in our city, and if we are able to maintain that over the next week, we plan to move forward in gradually allowing a small number of students onto campuses starting after Labor Day, on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

There are three local health metrics that we have been monitoring closely: the positivity rate in Bexar County, the number of days it takes for the local case count to double (known as doubling time), and the two-week trend in daily case numbers. At this time, all of those criteria have reached the numbers for what we refer to as Level 2 Yellow in our safety matrix.

During our Level 2 Yellow phase, we will not be able to bring back every student whose parents declared their preference for in-person instruction. For health and safety, we will keep student numbers small in this phase. When we reach our Level 3 Green phase, which includes up to 50% of student enrollment on campuses, we will be able to meet the initial set of parent requests we received for in-person learning.

We will move into this next phase gradually. On Sept. 8, we will start with up to 10% of students coming onto campuses, limiting class sizes to four to six students. Campuses will begin reaching out to parents by early next week. As always, we will continue to honor parents’ choices for their children.

For those students whose parents have given consent, we will prioritize student return by focusing on those who will benefit most from in-person learning. Campuses will work with families to bring in small numbers of students who require services in the area of special education, are struggling academically and are at risk, or are younger learners – such as prekindergarten through second grade.

We will carefully continue to monitor our local health metrics over the following two weeks, and if statistics remain positive, we may bring in another 10% of students on Monday, Sept. 21. We will continue to gradually increase the number of students based on the health metrics and our criteria for student occupancy in our buildings, all with a focus on the health and safety of students, staff and families.

As a reminder, all students and staff onsite will be required to practice physical distancing and wear face coverings, which we will provide. Our younger students in grades prekindergarten through second also will be provided a face shield. Parents are welcome to provide their children’s own face coverings, if they prefer.

We are grateful for this opportunity to be able to slowly re-open our campuses for in-person learning. However, it is important to note that for all of School Year 2020-2021, we will offer a fully-remote instructional option for families who need that.

Overall, we believe our school started quite well with teachers and students reconnecting with each other in virtual classrooms. I want to thank all of our campus teams who helped kick off the year on a positive note. I also greatly appreciate the teachers who volunteered to come in during these first couple of weeks – your input on the safety protocols we have in place have been valuable, especially now as we look to slowly bring more people back into our buildings.

Before I close, I want to share one of my favorite highlights already from this school year. By the second day, we learned Lanier High School math teacher Adriana Abundis was named the 2020 Secondary Teacher of the Year by Education Service Center, Region 20. I can’t think of a better way to launch a school year than to recognize the teachers like Ms. Abundis, who go above and beyond for their students on a daily basis. Please join me in congratulating her!

Sincerely,
Pedro