Dallas ISD unveils its much-awaited reopening plan, with one key detail still a mystery - The Dallas Morning News

Dallas ISD administrators unveiled the district’s school reopening plans during a board briefing on Thursday, but didn’t say whether school would start with some in-person instruction when classes are scheduled to resume Sept. 8.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said he is still collaborating with Dallas County Health officials to determine whether allowing for in-person instruction would be prudent when virtual classes begin after Labor Day.

Hinojosa said he would follow the county’s recommendations, when they come later next week.

Last month, on the advice of the county’s health authority, DISD changed its school calendar, pushing its start date back to Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day.

Doing so gave the district the most flexibility to delay in-person instruction until conditions in Dallas County improve, Hinojosa said at the time. Conceivably, by using a four-week buffer and an additional four-week transition period allowed by the Texas Education Agency, the district could avoid fully opening its schools until November.

Specifics on how schools would operate were provided during Thursday’s board briefing, but many of the details of those plans would be left up to campus administrators once they had a better grasp on the number of returning teachers and students.

The deadline for teachers to signal whether they are willing to return to in-person instruction is Aug. 21, while parents will be asked to give their decisions by Aug. 25 -- unless the county advises DISD to stay online-only for the first four weeks.

As a general rule, Dallas ISD will use remote asynchronous learning for its virtual schools, meaning that instruction won’t tie students with instructors at all points throughout the day.

But the district’s new chief academic officer, Shannon Trejo, said the goal for students in online-only classes would be to have some point of direct contact with teachers every day, either through direct teaching of a concept, small group instruction or one-on-one check-ins.

If in-person and online classes were available, teachers in grades PK-8 would have a combination of responsibilities for both on-campus and distance-learning students. In an example given in the district’s presentation, a PK-5 teacher would spend four different 30- or 45-minute sessions balancing guided and independent learning simultaneously with both groups of students.

Parents choosing virtual learning for their students would receive schedules outlining their child’s day, highlighting the time they would be called into real-time instruction with teachers.

High schools, however, would use a different structure, serving students in a hybrid model. Most students would attend online classes for three days each week and in-person classes for two days.

When asked what the district would do if there weren’t enough teachers to fill the needs at given campuses, Dallas ISD’s new chief of school leadership, Jolee Healey, said the district would consider using substitutes to fill the void or pull administrators with teaching credentials back into the classroom.

Hinojosa said that if the imbalance required it, there could be situations when students would be asked to attend a different campus than their home school if teacher coverage didn’t meet demand.

Trustees Joyce Foreman and Dustin Marshall both voiced their concerns that the district’s plans were late in coming.

“It just appears we would be better prepared to move faster,” Foreman said.

Marshall said he understood that the district was balancing keeping its flexibility by sacrificing “clarity and certainty.” But given that strategy, he said, “the communication from the district really needs to step up and we need to do a more crisp and clear job communicating what certainty we do have.”

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Dallas ISD unveils its much-awaited reopening plan, with one key detail still a mystery - The Dallas Morning News
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