[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

Yesterday, Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott addressed the worsening Covid 19 situation in Central Texas. “Escott said the average of new hospital admissions is up 106% since the beginning of December, and new admissions to intensive care units are up 62% since a week ago. Escott said at this rate, ICUs in the area could run out of beds in a week.” (KXAN article from December 28, 2020 entitled, “Coronavirus in Texas: Curfew a possibility for Austin as ICU beds run low.”)

Here are his recommendations as quoted from the above KXAN article:

“Now that Austin-Travis County entered Stage 5, Escott said Monday that he may recommend school districts to revert to virtual learning again due to the surge in cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions. He said he already asked districts to cancel or postpone extracurricular activities, like sports, because that’s where the most spread is happening.

“The discussions I had with superintendents as well as the [Texas Education Agency] are that we start with transition of high schools to virtual education, then middle schools and then elementary schools as a last resort. I think if we continue to see the transmission increases, the hospitalization and ICU increases that we have over the past week, I will make the recommendation that our schools transition middle and high schools to virtual for the week to two weeks following the break.””

If APH does make that recommendation, we will need to have what may end up being an emergency meeting. Unless TEA adjusts their rules (which currently give us only half credit for schools days that are all virtual), any decision to go all virtual (even just for secondary) would require a change in the calendar.

I felt I should get this discussion going.

I have stated previously that my two top priorities are safety and keeping schools open. My preference is to take actions that achieve both. I would need to hear from APH as to why they feel closing secondary schools will decrease community spread, given they have been emphatic that in class learning results in almost no spread. What benefit to the community is closing schools if schools are not the nexus of spread? We know schools are a huge benefit to the community, so I would need to be convinced the benefit of closing schools outweighs the costs.

[Tiffanie N Harrison]

Trustee Vessa,

Thank you for starting this conversation.

I spent some time listening to the most recent guidance today. This guidance was part of the weekly Covid19 Update from Austin Public Health (KXAN Article from 12.29.2020 titled “Austin ICU doctor calls overwhelmed hospitals a ‘nightmare none of us want to come to’”)

They have specific guidance for schools starting around 21:40.

-Suspend/Postpone Extracurricular and other activities within the school system where masking and social distancing are not possible
-In the event that activities are unable to be postponed or cancelled, they should be significantly modified in order to reduce the risk of transmission, including proactive testing.
-Middle Schools and High Schools should transition to virtual learning for the two weeks following the Winter Break
-Any student/staff who traveled or participated in social gatherings outside of their household are strongly encouraged to quarantine and be tested 7 days following the gathering or travel.

Dr. Mark Escott has admitted that schools have done a wonderful job of mitigating the risk *and* he has said that as the positivity rate increases in the community, the positivity rate at schools will follow.

I would like to consider an emergency meeting. It would be nice to not have to make a last minute decision. I know that we desire to keep schools open but I would like to be able to also keep students, families and educators safe.

Additionally, I have seen that there are ISD’s like Brazosport ISD that have been able to make vaccinations available to their staff. I would like to continue to advocate for vaccines to be made available to our staff. I believe with a round of staff vaccinations, we will be able to reach more of the in-person face-to-face education that many parents are seeking before the end of the semester. There will still be need for precaution but there will be more assurance of safety. I have more thoughts but am on a tight timeline so I will be back later with more. I have one other resource to follow up on. Thank you again for starting this discussion, Trustee Vessa.

[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

I watched the AISD emergency meeting last Wednesday, December 23rd and the AISD Superintendent, Dr. Stephanie S. Elizalde, outlined the possible options should APH make the recommendations it just did. The information she shared is applicable to RRISD as well and I felt it was very informative.

1. She could go all virtual for 1-2 weeks.
She said this option was quite challenging. TEA only gives half credit for all virtual if it is done to prevent spread (rather than in response to active spread – like we saw at Stony Point HS). To make up those instructional minutes, she would have to not only add minutes/days onto the calendar, but she would also have to add days to staff contracts. Many staff, teachers especially, are contracted to work a certain number of days/minutes. Going over that contractual amount would necessitate changing contracts and adding compensation.

2. She could close schools for 1-2 weeks.
She said this was less challenging. Closing schools means teachers and staff under contract are not working. Closing schools would only require adding days onto the calendar. Most parents surveyed preferred adding days onto the end of the year, rather than eliminating Spring Break or other vacation days in the Spring semester.

I believe there could be a third option: Extend the time current in-person learners can be virtual without impacting their in-person status. Right now, in-person learners can be virtual for January 6-8th, returning January 11th. We could extend this grace period to include that entire second week, meaning it would end on January 18th.

There was also a discussion of just closing schools until Spring Break. She said that was not legally possible under current law. The current law requires all instructional minutes for this school year to be complete by June 30, 2021. To close school until after Spring Break would require school to continue past June 30, 2021 in order to complete the requisite number of instructional minutes under current law. Also, there were issues with staff contracts – they would not be able to complete the required number of days/minutes on their contracts before the end date of their contracts.

I have not touched on the recommendations regarding extracurricular activities. The two APH recommendations are: 1. Suspend/postpone extracurricular activities within the school system when masking and distancing are not possible. 2. In the event that activities are unable to be postponed or canceled, they should be modified in order to reduce the risk of transmission, including proactive testing.

I hope this information aides in our conversation.

[Danielle Weston]

Thank you Trustees Vessa & Harrison for posting on this. I appreciate your thoughts.
According to the data I have seen, schools are one of the safest places for all people and especially students (safe from Covid as well as significant mental and physical health concerns) during this pandemic. In addition, RRISD has a responsibility to educate our students with the resources (top-tier human capital & world class facilities) our community has come to expect and invested in for many years. Though we certainly have some students who enjoy and are doing well in the virtual learning environment, for many of our students, virtual learning brings much harm including significant learning loss and a negative impact on their mental health. These are severe and long-term consequences that I take very seriously. Therefore, I continue to support in-person, face to face education as an option for all RRISD students.
It’s my understanding that RRISD extracurricular activities (including multiple contact sports) have been conducted regularly throughout the winter break since it began on 18 Dec 2020. This includes games, scrimmages and practices. The data we have been presented in Nov and Dec 2020 BoT meetings shows that the majority of Covid transmissions in our schools come from these activities. This might be an area for modification to consider if curbing Covid transmission is the goal.
Furthermore, if there is anything I can do to ensure or advocate further that all RRISD staff has the option to receive the Covid vaccine ASAP, I stand ready to help in any way I can.

[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

As you may or may not know, vaccinations for people qualifying under 1b are now permitted.

People in this group include:
-People 65 years of age and older
-People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
-Cancer
-Chronic kidney disease
-COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
-Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
-Solid organ transplantation
-Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
-Pregnancy
-Sickle cell disease
-Type 2 diabetes mellitus

I theorize that over 25% of RRISD staff qualify (mainly because of the obesity category). I would like to get any staff that qualify vaccinated ASAP. However, the availability of the vaccine from regular providers is very limited. If our qualifying staff must go to a pharmacy or doctor, they may have to wait many weeks.

I sent an email to Dr. Presley earlier this morning asking if we could set up a vaccination clinic on-site. Could we coordinate with Williamson County Public Health like we did for our school nurses? If they aren’t able, could we coordinate with another provider? I want every staff member eligible to be vaccinated ASAP.

Vaccination is the surest way to protect our staff. Teachers and school staff didn’t make 1b, but we can get our teachers and staff that qualify under 1b currently to the front of the line.

Sincerely,

Cory Vessa

[Anonymous]

Trustee Vessa,

Thank you for advocating on-site vaccination for the school staff.

I agree that the third option you proposed offers flexibility for some parents. Unfortunately, teachers are not extended the same grace.

I am writing this on the last day of 2020. In the coming new year, let us all work together, taking care of every customer and every employee of the school district.

[Author]

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