Friendswood ISD leaders are prepared to enter another school year that could be once again defined by shifting public health guidelines.
The FISD board of trustees recommended the formal adoption of the district’s Texas Education Agency public health guidance related to COVID-19 during its regular monthly meeting July 19. The health-mitigation protocols include general practices as well as specific health and hygiene guidelines.
“After a year like last year, we learned that all we can do is make the best plan possible for what we currently know based on the facts and guidance from TEA,” the FISD Communications Director Dayna Owen said in a July email to Community Impact Newspaper, adding the district will readjust as necessary to keep students in classrooms. “We miss our kids. They are resilient, but we want them back in schools.”
Per the 2021-22 general protocols, masks will be optional at FISD, and facilities will not be modified to allow for physical distancing. Protocols will be reviewed every six weeks, per district communications. The school year begins Aug. 17.
Some policies will carry over from 2020-21: The district will continue, for example, providing coronavirus testing for staff, and parents are required to report their children’s positive COVID-19 cases to the school nurse. Positive cases in both students and staff will be reported to the county health district as required by TEA, per the protocols. Employees and visitors are asked to self-screen before entering district buildings.
In accordance with the district’s illness policy, a child diagnosed with COVID-19 can return to school after being fever-free without the aid of fever-reducing medications for at least 24 hours. Last school year, the rule was three days fever-free. Perfect attendance will not be recognized as an award category this year, and final exam exemptions will not be tied to attendance criteria; both of these changes have been made in an effort to give students the incentive to stay home when sick, per the protocols.
FISD will continue to work with Galveston County and the TEA on coronavirus mitigation, per the protocols. This could include responding to contact tracing and facilitating community immunization sites in addition to revising guidelines.
“One thing we want to make clear is we want students to come back with or without masks,” Owen said via email. “That is their option, but one thing we will expect is for our students and teachers to treat each other with love and respect, whatever their choice will be.”
The 2020-21 protocols can be viewed here. Other health and hygiene guidelines for 2021-22 include:
- prioritizing hand washing with students and staff being encouraged to dedicate intentional time for hygiene throughout the school day;
- double-staffing campus custodians to allow for daily cleaning of high-contact surfaces while students are present;
- equipping classrooms with cleaning supplies for disinfecting throughout the instructional day; and
- disinfecting each bus via disinfecting mist after morning and afternoon routes.
