BURTON ISD INCREASING MINUTES PER SCHOOL DAY
TRUSTEE FELTON COX RESIGNS
Burton ISD students will have longer school days this year to accommodate for anticipated COVID-19 closures.
At Monday’s meeting of the Burton School Board, Superintendent Dr. Edna Kennedy said the district is adding 15 minutes to each school day, which will now start at 7:50 a.m. and end at 3:45 p.m. Dr. Kennedy said this decision will give the district additional days to use in the event of a school closure.
Dr. Kennedy said the Texas Education Agency (TEA) wants school districts to have plans in place and extra days available should a closure be necessary. She noted the district can extend the calendar into June in the event of a prolonged closure, but said that would not be ideal.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board approved a maximum of $80,000 in expected COVID-19 expenditures for technology. Dr. Kennedy said that number is more of a worst case scenario, in the case a totally remote learning system is necessary.
Potential costs included in that total include $28,995 for 100 more Chromebooks to replace several old units, $20,000 to purchase Internet hotspots—including a $20 per month plan per hotspot for the school year—for 75 students, a combined $26,375 for high school and elementary computer programs—Edgenuity and Schoology, respectively—to support remote learning for all subject matter taught in class, and $3,990 for software called Classlink to connect the programs together.
Dr. Kennedy said the money for those expenditures can come from the instructional materials allotment provided by the state, as well as Career and Technology funds and existing TEA grant funding. Dr. Kennedy said the district’s current budget could also be utilized, saying the budget is currently “in good shape” as the district did not have as many spring expenses as expected.
The board also accepted the resignation of trustee Felton Cox, who brought his letter of resignation, effective immediately, to the district on June 8th. In his letter, Cox said he is leaving the board for medical reasons, stating concerns and complications associated with COVID-19 and a pair of minor surgeries have “made it impossible” for him to continue on the board.
Listen folks, it is what it is. This virus is here to stay and is not leaving anytime soon. So, should we close schools down forever? Just do away with all public events and gatherings? Live life everyday as you should have been all along. Stay safe, wash your hands, keep your distance, and cover your mouth/nose when coughing/sneezing. Feel sick? Stay at home! Sick time from places of business is to be used for just that! Not to extend a vacation or have a PTO day. Grow up folks and realize we cannot live like this for ever!
You should quarantine IF you are personally exposed. If you are not showing Signs or Symptoms for 72 hours, you are good to go.
You DO NOT need to quarantine if your mamas boyfriends co-workers aunts brothers niece has Covid.
CDC states that if you have COVID-19 and are symptom free for 72 hours, then you are clear to go about your business.
Excellent points.
I wish more Texans had your frame of mind.
You are awsome!
You mean LIVE AGAIN like we have always done? THAT would be the NEW normal!!!
So we heard that the school is going to add 15 minutes each day, but we didn’t hear how they were going to keep our kids saft from getting the virus and that’s becouse they want be able to.,But they are going to extend more minutes so our kids will be exposed longer and more chances of them getting it.I still don’t understand why they are going to open the schools when every day there are more and more cases added to the list.
Questions for School Openings:
• If a teacher tests positive for COVID-19 are they required to quarantine for 2-3 weeks? Is their sick leave covered, paid?
• If that teacher has 5 classes a day with 30 students each, do all 150 of those students need to then stay home and quarantine for 14 days?
• Do all 150 of those students now have to get tested? Who pays for those tests? Are they happening at school? How are the parents being notified? Does everyone in each of those kids’ families need to get tested? Who pays for that?
• What if someone who lives in the same house as a teacher tests positive? Does that teacher now need to take 14 days off of work to quarantine? Is that time off covered? Paid?
• Where is the district going to find a substitute teacher who will work in a classroom full of exposed, possibly infected students for substitute pay?
• Substitutes teach in multiple schools. What if they are diagnosed with COVID-19? Do all the kids in each school now have to quarantine and get tested? Who is going to pay for that?
• What if a student in your kid’s class tests positive? What if your kid tests positive? Does every other student and teacher they have been around quarantine? Do we all get notified who is infected and when? Or because of HIPAA regulations are parents and teachers just going to get mysterious “may have been in contact” emails all year long?
• What is this stress going to do to our teachers? How does it affect their health and well-being? How does it affect their ability to teach? How does it affect the quality of education they are able to provide? What is it going to do to our children?What are the long-term effects of consistently being stressed out?
• How will it affect students and faculty when the first teacher in their school dies from this? The first parent of a student who brought it home? The first student ?
• How many more people are going to die, that otherwise would not have if we had stayed home longer?
We are choosing to put our teachers in danger.
Please pray for our school personnel. Please pray for all making these decisions.
Well, so far in this county there have been 32 deaths, most from the nursing home.
No kids, no teachers that I know of.
I think it will be fine.
Compromised people should be cautious and stay home.
Everyone else should do what they can,
but kids need to be in school.
I am just very thankful that we are fourtunate enough to live in Washington County.
How are you going to get the students to wear a mask all day and expect them to? How do you manage to keep all students 6ft away at all times? I don’t see how sports won’t be cross contamination at all during practice, workouts, and games. How long during periods do teachers have to wipe everything down from student to student or do the students have to wipe a desk before sitting. If a student or teacher is positive and they don’t know it and then what, everyone has to get tested when everyone comes down with it. The younger kids don’t have to wear a mask but they could get it and contaminate teachers and then it’s a domino effect.
And IF was FIFTH…..WE WOULD ALL BE DRUNK!!! One day at a time.
These are excellent questions? Have you forwarded them along to anyone?
These are excellent questions. All of them should need to have answers before any school is allowed to open.
Way to go Burton!
The kids are going to be soo excited!
I love Burton ISD!
Go Panthers!