Preparing for Back to School

Wylie ISD parents, we miss your kids! Summer is a busy time for us as we prepare for back to school. We know you are wondering what type of school day we will have when we start the new school year and want the answer to these questions. Will we return to a regular school day as we had before closures from COVID-19? Will we continue to have online learning? Will school begin with a mix of in-school and online learning? None of us have the answers yet, but we can assure you, regardless of what school looks like in August, Wylie ISD will be ready to welcome back your students on August 13.

This photo is of a kindergarten student in China, wearing his “meter hat” to socially distance himself from classmates. Educators across the world find themselves in the same situation—looking for innovative ways for students to practice safe social distancing. Wylie ISD campus and district administrators met on June 9 to begin planning for reopening our schools in August. We understand that all future decisions are framed with guidance from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). We will be attentive to the specific health and safety parameters established to minimize the spread of COVID 19.  We also included feedback from parents and teachers in our discussions regarding online learning from spring 2020 and research from other countries that have begun reopening schools like China, South Korea, and France.

Wylie ISD’s goal is for school to resume as close to normal as possible, beginning on August 13.  However, pending guidance from state and federal agencies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, we realize that there may be guidelines that cause us to adjust our plans. We are actively working on contingency plans in case we aren’t able to resume the traditional school day. As shown in the graphic below, we are working on three different scenarios for the 2020-2021 school year.

 

 

This scenario is the school experience we knew before the pandemic but with increased infection-control practices. All staff and students would return to Wylie ISD buildings; transportation would run as normal; all extracurricular activities would resume. Depending on further CDC and TEA guidance, even if everyone is allowed to return, social distancing and additional hygiene practices may impact typical school routines.

 

This plan involves a mix of traditional and online learning. If the state at any point reduces class sizes or building capacity, Wylie ISD will have a plan for students to continue learning through a mix of traditional and online learning. In theory, students may have designated days of the week to be at home participating in online learning, and other days they are at the school building in a traditional setting receiving direct instruction from teachers.

 

This plan involves teachers instructing online and students using technology to learn. This scenario would be enacted if schools were shut down again due to the spread of the virus. The CDC has cautioned that a resurgence of cases will prompt temporary closures during the 2020-2021 school year to slow the spread of the virus. If this is the case, Wylie ISD will be ready to move into online learning immediately.

Parents, we will be asking for your input in a survey the week of July 13. Although some districts are already surveying parents and announcing plans, we chose to wait a few weeks to gather more precise information about the possible increased spread of COVID-19 as the state gradually reopens. Your feedback is valuable to us, so please take the opportunity to complete the survey during the week of July 13.

Wylie ISD Timeline for Opening School

Back to School is a special time of year, and no matter what the school day will look like in August (traditional, hybrid, or online), you can count on us to continue providing the highest level of education to your children. Wylie ISD is committed to improvement, and we will work together—the Wylie Way!