Conroe ISD Superintendent Curtis Null announced during a YouTube update on July 28 that students, faculty or parents who test positive for COVID-19 are not allowed to come to school.

Community Impact Newspaper previously reported that CISD officials cannot prevent students who test positive for COVID-19 from coming to school. The statement was made at a July 20 board of trustees meeting during a presentation for the "Roadmap to Remaining Open," an updated plan for the safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services.

Null said the district did not have the authority to send students home at the time of the presentation, but was granted the authority after state officials updated a list of illnesses for which districts can exclude students.

Null said individuals—including students, parents, faculty and staff—with a positive COVID-19 test will not be allowed to enter a CISD school. Null said CISD will continue with the notification process that alerts parents when there is a positive test in their child's school or classroom. The district will not be continuing with close-contact tracing or close-contact quarantining. Null said the decision to end the efforts was based off data the district gathered from the 2020-21 school year regarding students who tested positive after close contact.

"For us to be successful this year, it's going to take all of us," Null said. "It's going to take personal responsibility. If we have a successful year, it's going to be, once again, because we all had a successful year."