In conjunction with the district's COVID-19 Tracker, which reports confirmed student and staff coronavirus cases and updates on a daily basis, the two tools aim to help families make the best choices for their students as the pandemic continues into the 2020-21 school year.
"We feel this information is very important for parents who might be trying to decide whether they want to send their students back to the classroom or keep them at home," said Tiffany Dunne-Oldfield, SISD chief of communications and innovation, in a statement. "Families can see the exact percentage of students at any campus by their mode of instruction. That will help reassure parents of our ability to maintain important health and safety protocols like social distancing if they can see what percentage of students are on campus."
According to the Learning Tracker, 54.4% of SISD students are attending school in person as of Oct. 8. Additionally, 56.5% of elementary students are learning in person as compared with 54.9% of middle school students and 47.7% of high school students. According to Learning Tracker data, Burchett Elementary School has the highest percentage of students learning in person at 69.7%, while Wells Elementary School has the least with 23.7%.
"We are very committed to being transparent with our families, staff and community about COVID-19," Dunne-Oldfield said in a statement. "We are notifying our in-person families when we have new positive cases on our campuses and updating our website daily with that information. We believe that this information is vital as we work to maintain a safe and healthy environment in our schools and buildings."
Since SISD's first day of school Aug. 17, there have been 30 students and staff members who reported testing positive for COVID-19. As of Oct. 8, five staff members and five students have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past seven days, and Reynolds Elementary School has reported three total cases—the most of any other SISD campus.
