School Closure Information

Posted Date: 03/15/2020

Dear Parents and Staff,

This has been one crazy Spring Break! I can only hope and pray that this NEVER repeats!

I wanted to contact you to inform you of where we are and what we are planning for the coming week. Please know that I have been in contact with the TEA, UIL, Department of State Health Services, the Region 15 Educational Service Center, and local and county officials daily. There has not been one decision made that has not been carefully thought through by school administrators and School Board; considering the best course of action to protect your children.

1. It was out of an abundance of caution that the CISD School Board made the decision that there would be no classes for this coming week. Staff will be coming to work this week to prepare for the coming days. We will be planning for two scenarios:

1. Preparation for the return of students on 3/23/20
2. Preparation for extended school closure.

At this time, we have no idea which of these scenarios will come to pass. We will be prepared for either one.

2. Your children’s teachers will be contacting you on Monday to inquire about the health status of every student/family, where you may have traveled to during the Spring Break, and if we have to extend school closures, what method would be the best to disseminate school work to them. This information will be helpful to us in determining our plans for the coming days. Your teacher will also be briefed as to what our plans are and they should be able to answer any questions you might have. Please be patient if you have more than one child, as multiple teachers may be contacting you.
3. We all know that for homes where both parents work, or for single parent homes, having your child at home for an extended time presents hardships. You will the task of finding childcare for your children. We understand that this will be difficult for every family and we will take this fact into consideration when we make future decisions.
4. Part of our preparations and planning tomorrow will be how we can more thoroughly sanitize our school. We had been working diligently before this time to mitigate and prevent the spread of illness and I believe that our precautions were working. We are now faced with the possibility of the COVID-19 and there are several additional things that we can do, including sanitizing surfaces (desks, tables, bathrooms) multiple times during the day. We purchase chemicals and paper goods for the entire year, so we are well stocked with cleaning supplies, and yes, toilet paper. I was in contact with salespeople last Monday, to order additional cleaning supplies, just in case.  
5. Should there be extended school closures, we will be seeking guidance from state officials as to how we can get food to our free and reduced lunch students. We will have more information in the coming days.
6. TEA Commissioner, Mike Morath, has waived the 90% attendance rules for students. What this means is that during this outbreak, if we have resumed classes and your child is sick, for whatever illness, they will not be counted absent. Please do not send your child to school, if they are ill, no matter what the illness is – common flu, strep throat or the stomach flu. This will only expose other children.
7. Please do not let these coming days just be a vacation for your children. Please restrict contact with others, as health officials have asked.
8. All UIL activities/competitions were cancelled by the UIL and scheduled field trips for the remainder of the month have been cancelled as well. At this time, we do not know what that means for the remainder of the school year. The UIL has plans in place to allow us to be able to finish the UIL competitions for the year. We do not know at this time if this will be possible. We will be meeting with other UIL District 31A officials on 3/30/20 to determine what the remainder of the year will look like.  
9. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to call the office at 432-292-4444. I do ask you to please wait until after 10:00 AM Monday to call, to give us enough time to have staff meetings. You can also email me at okwolf@comstockisd.net. We will give you the best information we have. Please know that these times are fluid and things can change daily. We will do all we can to keep you informed. We are doing everything we can to protect your children.

We will continue to be in daily contact with state and county officials, to learn the latest information. We will have a better sense as to what our future plans will be at the end of the week. Again, please do not hesitate to contact us with any of your unanswered questions. I have included website addresses below about this pandemic. Please visit them to learn more about how you can protect your family.

O.K. (Buddy) Wolfenbarger, III

Superintendent

Texas Education Agency:

https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/safe-and-healthy-schools/coronavirus-covid-19-support-and-guidance

Texas Department of State Health Services:

https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/

Center for Disease Control:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html