CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As we get closer to the upcoming school year, many districts across the state and country have decided to start the year online.
But what about our local districts? Simply put, they’re working on it.
The six districts inside Corpus Christi city limits are working with city and county leaders on a unified plan on when to allow classrooms to open.
“While the face-to-face instruction may be moved back to a later date, the remote learning could still start on time,” said Corpus Christi Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Roland Hernandez.
Recently Jim Hogg County issued an order pushing back face-to-face learning to October. Nueces County is considering a similar order.
“We’re looking to see is the state law really provide local governments to do, and what is the impact on schools,” Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni said.
If that order comes, classes would stay online until at least Labor Day.
“Pretty much unanimously, everyone was good with moving forward remotely,” said Hernandez.
That’s welcome news to many parents. Debbie Trevino’s daughter asked if she’d be allowed to go back to school.
“As far as whether or not we’re going to let her, that’s still up in the air,” said Trevino.
The concern is keeping everyone on campus safe.
“It’s really issue number one on most families' minds,” said Zanoni.
And if school has to start online, districts are ready.
“I would say all districts are in a much better place now than they were at this time in the spring semester because we’ve been planning on this,”said Hernandez.
But with the first day of school coming up quickly, a decision needs to be made.
“We want to make a decision quickly this week, hopefully we’re moving in that direction, I think we are,” said Zanoni.
While parents are split on whether or not to reopen, they agree that reopening needs to be done as safely as possible.
Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott told a Houston TV station that schools would be allowed to start the school year online for longer than the three weeks originally mandated by the Texas Education Agency.