When the College Station Independent School District ISD offered parents the option for their children to attend class virtually or return to class in person on Aug. 18, 68% opted to return to the classroom on-site, according to school officials.
“The College Station community is extremely supportive of public education and the majority of our parents wanted their children back in the school building,” said Chuck Glenewinkel, director of communications with the College Station ISD. “Teachers and staff have worked harder than ever to provide a supportive and safe environment for learning either on-site or virtually.”
The College Station ISD is among the districts in Texas that opened brick-and-mortar classroom learning this fall despite the threat of COVID-19.
“Tons of measures and plans have been put into place with the help of the Brazos County Health Department,” Glenewinkel told the Lone Star Standard. “The students have shown resilience and have been able to make the necessary adjustments to follow protocols.”
The state of Texas has experienced a surge in coronavirus cases in recent months. A total of 649,809 cases were reported as of Sept. 11 with 13,853 deaths, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. In Brazos County, home of the College Station ISD, there have been 10,074 cases reported with 150 fatalities.
“Everyone understands that for this to work, we all have to be on the same page,” Glenewinkel said in an interview. “The most difficult part of offering both on-site and virtual learning was staffing both types of classes with the same number of teachers. Many teachers are having to manage both on-site and virtual classes, which has increased their workload significantly.”
In developing their reopening plans, the district relied partly on survey feedback from College Station ISD staff and families.
“A large majority wanted to be back in the classroom,” Glenewinkel said.
The survey represents 8,142 of about 14,000 students.
“Students will have the opportunity to change their respective method of instruction at the end of each grading period,” Glenewinkel said. “At the end of a six-week period, a student can elect to change from virtual to on-site instruction or vice versa.”
Glenewinkel advises other school districts to involve students, staff, parents and community in the decision-making process by getting feedback.
“The CSISD has employed the use of an online learning management system called Schoology for the past two years,” he said. “This system has made the transition to virtual learning more convenient than it would have been without it. In addition our students and staff had the experience of virtual learning much of the last spring semester.”
