As a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Spring ISD announced May 4 that the district will delay the launch of three new specialty programs until the 2021-22 school year, to give administrators more bandwidth to support students and teachers as they continue to learn and teach remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

According to the release, while the Bailey School of Performing and Visual Arts will still be rolled out this fall as planned, the International School at Salyers Elementary, the polytechnic program at Claughton Middle School and the pre-K to eighth-grade School for International Studies at Bammel Middle School will be pushed back until the 2021-22 academic year.

"We understand the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, and we don't want to distract from the work that is being done to make sure all of our students successfully complete the 2019-20 school year," SISD Superintendent Rodney Watson said in a statement. "We are going to keep planning for these specialty programs but with an extended timeline so that we're directing all of our immediate resources to Empowered Learning At-Home and preparing for the 2020-21 school year, which may require adjustments to school operations to ensure continued social distancing."

Watson first announced each of these new specialty programs at the annual State of the District breakfast on Feb. 10, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper.