(Seguin) – As students head back to class today, the Seguin ISD wants to ensure that each of its families fully understand the safety protocols that will be in place for the 2021-2022 school year.
Seguin ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez says these safety measures are only to provide the best and safest learning environment for all students and staff.
“We are asking that if your children are sick to please not send them to school because sometimes we give kids Tylenol and their fever reduces and they are feeling good but then within hours they are sick. If you child is sick at home that morning or even that night before, please do not send them to school. We are going to continue with many of the protocols that we had in place last year with contact tracing. We are going to be communicating with our parents when there are COVID positive cases. We are going to be updating our website with the latest COVID numbers as well so that parents are able to see what those trends are looking like right now. We are also going to have the ability to test students if they have been in close contact so that we can identify whether they do have COVID or not because we really want to make sure that our students with us learning. The best place for students to learn is here at school with their teachers,” said Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says of course topping the list of protocols is the encouragement to wear a mask. He says despite the public debates, he hopes that whatever someone chooses, he hopes that others respect those decisions.
“I just want to stress to our parents to encourage students to just be respectful of one another. Now, I will personally urge families to send children to school with a mask because of the latest trend that we are seeing with COVID. After a recent call with Guadalupe County, the hospital and other health officials, I’m very concerned about the trends that we are seeing and I personally will wear a mask until I see trends change a little bit and I’m doing that not to protect myself because I’m vaccinated but to protect others around me and so, I do respect whatever beliefs people have. I’m really just pleading with our parents and the community to just be respectful of others and I say that because of just messages that we are receiving as of late and just other things we are seeing on social media. We want to go back to where we were last year where we just worked together, put aside our differences. The great thing is we know how to navigate COVID now and yes, this variant is strong, but we got this,” said Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says this year, the Seguin ISD does not expect the quarantine of entire classrooms or programs.
He says because of such things as vaccines and masks, each case will be screened accordingly.
“What is also making a difference is you have a seventh-grade classroom and you are going to have students who have been vaccinated and you are going to have students who have been wearing masks so we are not going to force an entire grade level or entire football team or entire classroom to quarantine. We are going to be able to have a little more flexibility this year because we do have the tests. What is different this year is we now have a large percentage of our staff who are vaccinated, and we have many students over the age of 12 and older who are vaccinated as well. So, we are in a little bit of a different place compared to where we were starting school last year,” said Gutierrez.
Effective today and on Aug. 18 for Ball Early Childhood Center, visitors will not be allowed on Seguin ISD campuses. District officials say they anticipate that this protocol will be a temporary one and that it can be rescinded once COVID numbers stabilize and ultimately decline.
Classrooms will also be cleaned frequently. Handwashing will also continue to be encouraged.
Thermal temperature scanners are still expected to be in place at each of the campus main entrances.
After today, a COVID chart, as Gutierrez mentioned, will be posted on the Seguin ISD website. Numbers of positive student and staff cases will continue to be updated on a regular basis.
It should also be noted that according to 2021-2022 UIL Covid-19 guidelines, a student who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 must receive clearance from a physician prior to returning to participation in UIL marching band or athletic activities.
Again, district officials say these safety protocols are subject to change over time. Those changes will continue to be communicated throughout the year.