BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD DISCUSSES COVID-19 AHEAD OF START OF NEW SCHOOL YEAR
With one day remaining before the start of classes for Brenham ISD, district officials are preparing for new challenges stemming from COVID-19.
Brenham ISD Health and Safety Director Jamie Woodall refreshed the Brenham School Board Monday on the school district’s COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming school year, along with recent guidance from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). She also presented new information from a call on Monday with Texas Public Health Region 7, which includes Washington County.
Woodall said COVID-19 will still create difficulties for the district, but believes how the district approaches them will be different.
Woodall pointed to two highlights from the Region 7 call, one being that as of September 1st, Texas Health Trace, a data management system managed by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), will no longer be active. She said this means it will be unlikely that a person will be contacted if they are identified as a positive case, and interprets that personal responsibility will fall more upon individuals to inform others they have been in contact with.
Woodall also noted from the call that an outbreak is defined as “two or more confirmed COVID-19 cases in a facility or group that do not live in the same household with onset of symptoms in a 14-day period.” She said by that definition, Brenham ISD would have an outbreak right now.
Woodall also announced that on September 1st, the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the TEA will discontinue their COVID-19 testing program for schools. She said the tests the district currently has can still be used, and believes it will be able to get through the school year with the tests it has on hand.
Also at Monday’s meeting, trustees adopted the 2021-22 budgets and adopted a resolution setting the tax rate. The board approved a general fund budget of $47,775,297, interest and sinking (I&S) budget of $2,556,500 and a child nutrition budget of $2,278,180. Trustees also approved a tax rate of $0.9884 per $100 valuation, a decrease from the previous rate of $1.04 per $100. The new rate consists of $0.9084 for maintenance and operations (M&O) and $0.0800 for I&S.
The board also:
- Heard a monthly report from Superintendent Dr. Tylor Chaplin, who said the district still had 10 staff positions open as of Monday morning.
- Heard a pre-bond planning facility assessment from LAN.
- Approved repairs to the HVAC system in the Brenham Junior High School English Wing, purchasing two two-ton HVAC units for $72,106 from REC Industries of Bryan.
- Approved a resolution to provide for the defeasance and calling for redemption of series 2012 bonds.
- Accepted a bid from Key Performance and Petroleum for district fuel for the 2021-22 school year.
- Approved the 2021-22 student handbook.
If you don’t like what the school district has put in place, please opt to homeschool. We have options. If you don’t like it, leave.
Homeschooling is not an option that is available to most parents. A better option is to respectably, reasonably, and loudly advocate for reasonable changes within the school district and more broadly at the state level as well since that’s what is driving local policy. Be active. Be heard. Tolerate the outcome, but be a part of it. In doing so, never ever tell someone that their concerns should disqualify them from the democratic process or access to public services.
Everyone involved should be ashamed of this “LACK” of protocol. It is nothing but a reckless sham with no interest in protecting our children. I guess it is time for science to accept that a human can exist without a brain or a heart, because we have a lot of people who do not seem to have Either !! , especially those who are making these reckless decisions.
No one said your child/grandchild isn’t allowed to wear a mask at school. Please quit trying to make everyone have the same fears as you do. It’s not making anyone have a safer or happier life.
Discussions were useless. If all kids and parents were personably responsible, they would not be kids. Few adults are.
Parents want kids in school for two reasons, education and baby sitting so they don’t miss work. They will be missing work anyway when they or children are hospitalized. And the uninsured? Well, welcome to big debt. And our private schools are no better.
How can anyone with any common sense not know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? The death of just one unvaccinated child or teacher , is a guilt I did not vote for. But then maybe guilt is why they go to all these churches.
I would like to say thank you to all on school board and it’s staff. Times are tough but they will get better. I believe there is no greater purpose than to serve our Lord. The virus came from a Godless country and was set upon the world. God will be the decision maker on all things. We roll the dice but the Lord decides how they fall. Keep the faith and let our elected members of our school board do their job. Try a little bit of prayer for guidance because scientist are nothing but human.
Thank you! If everyone would turn off the TV ‘s….that are scaring the daylights out of everyone. Use common sense. Pray more and give it to God. Evilness has us all turning on each other….wake up America!!
No one said your child/grandchild isn’t allowed to wear a mask at school. Please quit trying to make everyone have the same fears as you do. It’s not making anyone have a safer or happier life.