(Seguin) — For the first time in a very long time, the Seguin ISD is sharing what it believes is the very best news.
“There is certainly a lot of excitement in the air right now in the Seguin ISD because as of today, Feb. 15 at 8 o’clock p.m. there are zero Covid cases, so we have no student or staff COVID cases,” said Gutierrez.
That’s Seguin ISD Superintendent Dr. Matthew Gutierrez who announced the zero confirmed COVID-19 cases at the start of Tuesday night’s regular school board meeting.
Dr. Gutierrez says you don’t have to look too far into the schools to see the impact that this news has already had at each of the campuses.
“More teachers are in the classroom and our vacancies are being filled. We are getting closer to a normal rate. Right now, about 85 percent of teacher vacancies are being filled by subs. In the fall semester, we were averaging around 90 to 95 percent when we got hit hard with COVID in January, beginning of February, we were averaging anywhere from 50 to 60 percent fill rate so that was certainly presenting hardships. So, you are starting to get a sense that things are normal again on campuses. There is minimal disruptions because you don’t have people covering for teachers. You don’t have administrators having to go into classrooms and counselors and librarians or central office. So, it does feel good,” said Gutierrez.
Dr. Gutierrez says more importantly, the community’s health is helping to ensure that kids and teachers are where they are and that’s inside of the classroom.
“The great thing right now too is that our daily average attendance is very close to 95 percent, and we were averaging about 90 percent in the fall and so we are just really proud of the fact that we are getting almost 95 percent of our students in our classrooms right now and we are hoping that continues,” said Gutierrez.
Throughout this latest surge in the pandemic, the school district was also recognized for taking preventive action by hosting vaccination clinics at the district and by encouraging students and staff to get vaccinated. Gutierrez and School Board President Cinde Jimenez also remained vocal by encouraging students and staff to mask up.