Richardson ISD to offer virtual instruction for students in quarantine

Richardson ISD will offer a COVID Support Program beginning Aug. 30 for students who miss in-person school due to quarantine procedures.

The district website states unvaccinated students who have to miss school as close contacts of cases and students who test positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms will be provided access to a support teacher while out of the classroom.

“If your child has to quarantine, they will receive an information sheet from their campus principal with information on how to access a COVID-19 support teacher while at home,” RISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone said in an Aug. 26 video shared on the district’s YouTube channel. “There will be two to three required Zoom meetings a day with an RISD teacher, and additional work will be provided through Seesaw and Google Classroom.”

During the Aug. 23 RISD board of trustees meeting, Deputy Superintendent Tabitha Branum said the Texas Education Agency is allowing students in quarantine to still qualify for average daily attendance funding if synchronous instruction is provided each day. At the elementary level, the requirement is two hours per day, while secondary students are required to receive four hours per day, she said.

In her video, Stone said all activities for students in quarantine will follow RISD curriculum.

“This will help ensure that your student continues to learn the same material even while at home,” she said. “This is one of the ways we are working to ensure we are keeping students learning and they have access to instruction as we continue to implement important health and safety protocols.”

The district’s COVID Support Program is separate from the temporary virtual classroom option RISD offered for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Students in that program do not qualify for attendance funding from the state.

RISD families initially registered 1,040 students for the virtual classroom program, which includes district educators teaching curriculum both synchronously and asynchronously. During the board meeting, Branum said that number declined to 1,010 students after the first day of virtual learning Aug. 23.