AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Austin's public schools could be headed towards another closure of campuses in the new year due to worsening coronavirus cases, and the threat of the area moving to Stage 5.
Austin ISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde told school board members Monday night that the option of online-only instruction remains on the table as the district's 80,000 students return from winter break in January.
"The best-case scenario is we don't close and we don't have to go remote" come January, Elizalde said. "The only reason we would close is because we have received medical advice that tells us we need to close."
Local health officials have said the area remains on the verge of moving to Stage 5 in Austin Public Health's risk-based coronavirus guidelines. A move to Stage 5, which officials say could happen in the next few days based on current projections, would create a new series of recommendations aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
In her conversations with Travis County interim health authority Dr. Mark Escott, Elizalde said the decision to close schools won't necessarily come the moment the area moves to Stage 5. She said Escott's recommendations will depend on how long the area is likely to remain a in Stage 5 threat.
Elizalde told board members that one issue complicating the matter is state funding. AISD was the only district in the state to entirely switch to remote-only learning for the week after Thanksgiving. In a compromise reached with the Texas Education Agency, Elizalde said the district will add minutes to next year's school days to make up for half of the lost in-person days from the week of Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 - in order to preserve $15 million in state funding.
"I don't believe the (TEA) commissioner is going to let us do this one more time," Elizalde told trustees. "I recognize that many of you may be taking some questions from individuals about why we're not pushing back on the Texas Education Agency. We did push back on the Texas Education Agency. And so, we do find ourselves in a situation of, are we going to risk that one more time?"
One option the district is considering is adding a third week to the winter break, completely closing schools for the week of January 4-8. The four instructional days would be made up later in the school year, either by adding the days on the end of the school year or reducing the amount of time for Spring Break.
Elizalde said if the area does move to Stage 5, the district will cease all of its extra-curricular activities.
