Clear Creek ISD high schoolers get statewide recognition for role in COVID-19 safety plans

A group of Clear Creek ISD high school students have earned statewide recognition from the Texas School Safety Center’s School Safety Spotlight Program for their work on the district’s Safely Reopen Plan guidelines, according to a March 10 media release.

The CCISD Students for Safety, who all attend Clear Brook, Clear Lake or Clear Springs High School, met with district and campus leadership to create plans that were designed to minimize the spread of COVID-19, per the release. The group first began their work with research over the summer as district leaders met virtually to discuss the logistics of the 2020-21 school year.

While school officials visited campuses and mapped out a way to open schools, the Students for Safety examined reopening guidelines and recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard School of Public Health, and they also brainstormed their own ideas for safety throughout each building. The group is responsible for the creation of seating arrangement plans in classrooms and lunch periods as well as the creation of one-way hallway plans, per the release.

The students continue to work with district leadership and, in September, some of them assembled and donated face shields to CCISD.

The School Safety Spotlight program aims to promote schools, districts and individuals that foster education and learning through safe, secure campuses, per the release. Nominations are reviewed based on criteria including creativity and originality, engagement, impact and evidence-based practices.

Clear Lake High School Assistant Principal Aaron Troyer, who nominated the students, spoke of the students’ commitment to safety in the release.

“It is heartwarming to see students care about the safety of others and responding through our campus core values,” he said in the release. “Their dedication to providing the safest environment possible was seen throughout the entire process.”