Special to El Rrun-Rrun
As the Donald Trump and Greg Abbott administrations push for the face-to-face instruction in schools, the Brownsville Independent School District finds itself having had to close seven campuses and several departments in the district even before students get there.
The board approved an amended 2020-2021 instructional calendar school year delaying the start of school to August 25 with the last day of school on June 10, 2021.
Gov. Greg Abbott has advocated the face-to-face opening of schools that includes a contingency "plan" to shut down a school only once a child tests positive for the virus. That plan contemplates the withholding of funds to school districts that don't comply.
The dilemma fis acing the BISD school board and administration and comes as the school year approaches. The district has already been forced to suspend the distribution of meals to hungry families July 16 following the reported deaths from the virus of two Food and Nutrition Service employees. No one knows where they caught the virus, but the district suspended the distribution out of an abundance of caution.
Although no mention of the death of the FNS employees was made in the notice to stop the distribution, sources in the district assert that was the reason.
"The danger was for the workers to spread the virus to the people picking up the food and then them taking it home," said a worker on condition of anonymity. "After they heard of the death of the two workers, they didn't feel safe working at the department."
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This upset some local critics who said that the meals were catered for the BISD and wasn't prepared there. The district could just as well hired temporary workers who wouldn't have to touch them when they were picked up.
"The bottom line is tat they could have though of a way to get the meals to these hungry kids instead of just shutting it down," one said.
As far as infected campuses that have been closed due to COVID-19 infection, reports from inside the district indicate there have been seven, the first being Garcia Middle School and then the others.
Since July 1, the BISD administration has closed Manzano and Stillman Middle schools, and Veterans, Hanna, and Rivera high schools for a week until the campuses were sanitized and personnel allowed to return.
"This is just the staff and maintenance people," they said. "Imagine what it would be like if you had a school full of students."
Since the July 15 meeting when the new school year was approved, the district has also been forced on July 20 to close – aside from the FNS meals distribution – the BISD Purchasing, Special Services and Curriculum departments because of the detection of positive COVID-19 cases.
The BISD announced on July 15 that it was "requesting an order from the Cameron County Judge and the Mayor of Brownsville and their Commissioners Court that all BISD schools remain closed for on-campus, face-to-face instruction for all school age students until further notice and that it is safe for students, faculty, and staff to return."
“Due to the increased community spread, we feel that there will be a greatly enhanced risk of parent, student, and employee illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, arising from the current levels of contagion within Cameron County and the City of Brownsville,” said BISD Superintendent Dr. René Gutiérrez.
The state and national governments are putting the BISD board under the gun to start face-to-face school by August 25 despite the apparent danger to students, school personnel and local families of the community where they live.
And despite the requests of local elected officials like State Rep. Alex Dominguez to the Texas Commissioner of Education to allow local districts to determine when it is safe to start face-to-face instruction for themselves, Abbott seems determined to send the students as canaries into the poisoned coal mine to please Donald Trump as he tries to manipulate the disease for his political profit.
Hopefully, the board will hold their ground and place the safety of the children, its employees, and the community as their main priority.
As the Donald Trump and Greg Abbott administrations push for the face-to-face instruction in schools, the Brownsville Independent School District finds itself having had to close seven campuses and several departments in the district even before students get there.
The board approved an amended 2020-2021 instructional calendar school year delaying the start of school to August 25 with the last day of school on June 10, 2021.
Gov. Greg Abbott has advocated the face-to-face opening of schools that includes a contingency "plan" to shut down a school only once a child tests positive for the virus. That plan contemplates the withholding of funds to school districts that don't comply.
The dilemma fis acing the BISD school board and administration and comes as the school year approaches. The district has already been forced to suspend the distribution of meals to hungry families July 16 following the reported deaths from the virus of two Food and Nutrition Service employees. No one knows where they caught the virus, but the district suspended the distribution out of an abundance of caution.
Although no mention of the death of the FNS employees was made in the notice to stop the distribution, sources in the district assert that was the reason.
"The danger was for the workers to spread the virus to the people picking up the food and then them taking it home," said a worker on condition of anonymity. "After they heard of the death of the two workers, they didn't feel safe working at the department."
"The bottom line is tat they could have though of a way to get the meals to these hungry kids instead of just shutting it down," one said.
As far as infected campuses that have been closed due to COVID-19 infection, reports from inside the district indicate there have been seven, the first being Garcia Middle School and then the others.
Since July 1, the BISD administration has closed Manzano and Stillman Middle schools, and Veterans, Hanna, and Rivera high schools for a week until the campuses were sanitized and personnel allowed to return.
"This is just the staff and maintenance people," they said. "Imagine what it would be like if you had a school full of students."
Since the July 15 meeting when the new school year was approved, the district has also been forced on July 20 to close – aside from the FNS meals distribution – the BISD Purchasing, Special Services and Curriculum departments because of the detection of positive COVID-19 cases.
The BISD announced on July 15 that it was "requesting an order from the Cameron County Judge and the Mayor of Brownsville and their Commissioners Court that all BISD schools remain closed for on-campus, face-to-face instruction for all school age students until further notice and that it is safe for students, faculty, and staff to return."
“Due to the increased community spread, we feel that there will be a greatly enhanced risk of parent, student, and employee illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, arising from the current levels of contagion within Cameron County and the City of Brownsville,” said BISD Superintendent Dr. René Gutiérrez.
The state and national governments are putting the BISD board under the gun to start face-to-face school by August 25 despite the apparent danger to students, school personnel and local families of the community where they live.
And despite the requests of local elected officials like State Rep. Alex Dominguez to the Texas Commissioner of Education to allow local districts to determine when it is safe to start face-to-face instruction for themselves, Abbott seems determined to send the students as canaries into the poisoned coal mine to please Donald Trump as he tries to manipulate the disease for his political profit.
Hopefully, the board will hold their ground and place the safety of the children, its employees, and the community as their main priority.