Richardson ISD families registered 1,040 students in the district's temporary, virtual classroom option offered to children too young to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to district staff.
The program is for students in kindergarten through sixth grade and will run from Aug. 23-Oct. 15. The deadline for parents to register was Aug. 17, the same day RISD began in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year.
Students who take part in the virtual option will work with RISD teachers on district curriculum both synchronously and asynchronously, according to the RISD website.
“For many students, the largest 2021-22 challenge will be continuing to learn during a pandemic where in-person school may be interrupted by pandemic-related absences or a need or choice to shift to a virtual learning model,” RISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone said in an email. “For most students, in-person learning is clearly the most effective instructional delivery model, and we want to encourage that. Having said that, some parents of students who cannot yet become vaccinated have real and legitimate concerns about returning to in-person learning, so the challenge for those students may look different than those who are learning in person.”
