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Saltillo Superintendent David Stickels discusses with his school board the measures they will take to ensure the school’s children receive an education during the COVID-19 outbreak. Staff photo by Taylor Nye
State officials commend ISD on swift action
SALTILLO—The Saltillo Independent School District board took an emergency meeting Wednesday evening to address possible school closure in response to COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.
Superintendent David Stickels first updated the board that Gov. Greg Abbott had cancelled STAAR testing, which would not be rescheduled. The Kerry Garmon scholarship dinner would be rescheduled in June, UIL would not reschedule any events, and the Northeast Texas school board meeting would be rescheduled for May 4. Region 8 has cancelled all meetings and workshops, he said.
The school had been taking lunches to 12 students, Stickels said. Furthermore, he said, elementary Principal Tim Lane, Assistant Principal Joli Maroney and Stickels had been “trying to figure out the best way to educate these kids,” as the board was facing another week of students staying at home due to the virus, and perhaps indefinitely, he said.
“If they don’t have internet, we’ll try to send out a paper copy on Monday and get it back on Friday,” Stickles said.
A major concern for students, according to board member Chip Tully, would be that in a rural area such as Saltillo, a majority of students do not have internet access. Board member Chad Neal stated he agreed; he had heard on Facebook, he said, of resources for free internet for students stuck at home, but he pointed out that was only available for students who could actually access the internet.
Stickels stated that of the 280 of students in their district, they were able to receive technology surveys from 153 students and would follow up via telephone with the remainder of the students.
Board president Mark Sustaire stated he was concerned about recouping the school’s funds in order to pay teachers, pack lunches to feed students, pay for supplies for take-home homework packets and other expenses.
“TEA [Texas Education Agency] has said, ‘We will pay you as long as you can prove you’re educating kids,’” Sustaire said.
“The expenses we have right now are built in,” Stickels agreed. “There’s not much we can change.”
A concern for Neal, whose daughter Cheyenne is a senior, was whether or not graduation and class standing would be affected by the closure. Stickels stated he did not know but made a note to find out.
Tully discussed that another aspect of online learning that parents needed to be mindful of was privacy.
“When Ms. Stillwagoner created a Facebook group for her class, only people in the class could see the messages, and that was important,” Tully said. “Plus, you could miss the video content, but then you could go back and watch it.”
But, the group admitted, they weren’t sure what to do about children with special education plans or those who had been in in-school suspension.
After adjourning to executive session from 6:45 to 7:17 p.m., the group reopened into open session. They then took counsel from State Rep. Kyle Kacal (R-College Station) who apprised them of his impressions of the effect of closings on schools in Brazos County. Kacal stated he believed closures were “just getting started.” Kacal commended the Saltillo school board for their swift action.
The board resolved to keep the school closed from March 23 to April 3.
The regularly scheduled board meeting for March 26 was rescheduled for April 2 at 6:30 p.m.
The board approved employee pay during closure.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:27 p.m.