Marshall ISD on Monday announced a plan to have students return to the classroom on Aug. 13 for the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Parents uncomfortable with sending their students back to school for face to face instruction due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will be allowed to choose online instruction from home.
The plan was outlined on the district’s website on Monday which can be visited at https://marshallisd.com/misdreopening
In the plan, teachers and students are asked to self-screen themselves, or parents for their young students, for symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, sore throat, etc. If symptoms are present, the student or teacher is required to stay at home until they receive a COVID-19 test ensuring they are negative for the virus.
Students will have their temperatures taken each day when they arrive to school and if a student registers a fever, they will be sent home, along with any other students in the vehicle with them.
If the student is a bus rider, they must wear a mask at all times on the bus and students of the same family will sit together. No more than 30 students will be allowed on a bus and bus drivers will take the temperature of each student as they enter the bus each day. Hand sanitizer will be available on the bus and seats will be sanitized after each route, as well as nightly.
All students, 10 years old or older, and staff will be required to wear masks, while elementary teachers and students will be required to wear face shields which will be provided by the district.
Desks will be spaced apart in the classrooms and classrooms will be cleaned and sanitized daily.
Students will not take field trips while at school and staff will not travel for out of district training. Students and accompanying staff will only travel for UIL sponsored activities.
“Meet the teacher” nights will be conducted virtually and schedule pickups will be done online only.
The bell to change classes will be staggered so all students will not be in the hallways at the same time and students who begin showing symptoms while at school will wait in an isolation room until a parent arrives to take them home.
Should a student fail to wear their mask or face shield, they will be provided one by the district on their first infraction. The second time they are caught without a mask or face shield they will be required to purchase their own and the third time they will be moved to online instruction only.
Students who eat breakfast at school will provided a “grab and go” meal from the cafeteria to eat inside their classroom. All Marshall Early Childhood Center, elementary school and Marshall Junior High School students will be delivered a lunch to their classroom by the cafeteria staff each day. Students will also be allowed to bring a lunch from home but parents will not be allowed to drop off a lunch to a student after school starts each day. If a student forgets a lunch from home, the cafeteria will provide them a lunch. Students receiving their instruction online will be able to pick up a lunch if needed. Parents will not be allowed to eat lunch with their students on campus.
All parent teacher conferences will be conducted virtually. The district is also not accepting any volunteers on campus and visitors will only be allowed on campus during an emergency. For non-emergency visits, appointments must be made through the campus principal.
Should any student or staff member on any campus test positive for COVID-19, all parents of that campus will be notified but names of the infected will not be released to the public. Areas where the infected person visited on campus will be deep cleaned. Students sent home due to symptoms or positive virus tests will continue to receive instruction online.
Before returning to campus, an infected person must wait 10 days from the time symptoms first appeared and remain fever free for 72 hours without the aid of medication. If a person wishes to return to campus before all of their symptoms disappear, they must provide proof from a medical provider that the symptoms are due to an alternative diagnosis other than COVID-19, or they must produce two separate negative COVID-19 test results conducted within 24 hours of each other.
Students choosing online instruction will not be permitted on campus at anytime, must have access to technology and will not have any extracurricular opportunities. Online students must also take attendance daily and complete a set number of hours of online work each day.
Registration for school begins Tuesday and ends on July 31. Any student not registered by July 31 will be assigned in classroom instruction.
The district is set to post an FAQ page full of answers to submitted questions on the district’s website in the coming days.
Also on Monday, Region 7 Education Service Center representative Marvin Thompson attended the Marshall ISD trustee meeting to present Marshall ISD Superintendent Jerry Gibson with his plaque for being named the Region 7 Superintendent of the Year. Gibson will now join the other regional superintendents recognized this year in the running for State of Texas Superintendent of the Year.
Also on hand Monday was State Rep. Chris Paddie who presented Gibson a state flag that flew at the Texas capitol in his honor.