Dear HISD Parents, Students, and Staff Members,
Next week, teachers and staff members will return to school for inservice training and planning meetings. In developing the daily schedule, the district leadership team has recognized that teachers will need time to develop virtual lessons for families that have chosen the at home learning option.
Teachers will also need to check in with students learning at home daily to make sure they are progressing on assignments and answer any questions or provide assistance as needed. Therefore, daily campus dismissal times have been adjusted to 3:00 p.m. for HES and HHS and 3:04 p.m. for HJH.
Reminder, if your family has chosen the School@Home learning option described in the plan below, then you will need to submit a form at the following link.
For your reference, below is the link to the Hallettsville ISD Return to School Plan.
Hallettsville ISD Return to School Plan
In an effort to answer any questions that you may have about our Return To School Plan, campus principals have created the following documents:
HJHS Q&A for Return to School for Fall 2020
Helpful Everyday Procedures HHS
Thank you for your positive feedback and input as well as your patience and understanding while we continue to plan a safe and successful return to school!
Once again, we are excited for our students to return to school!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jo Ann Bludau
Superintendent
Hallettsville ISD
Dear HISD Parents, Students, and Staff Members,
The HISD leadership team consisting of campus and district administrators, department heads, and teacher leaders met with the Board of Trustees on Monday, July 20th to review the HISD Return to School Plan.
Teachers and staff members have also had an opportunity to review the plan, and campus administrators are setting up meeting times for teachers and staff members to collaborate and discuss the implementation of the plan.
To effectively implement the plan, teachers and instructional staff members will need time to develop high quality lessons for families that choose the remote learning option. For example, teachers will need to have additional training in designing engaging lessons in our digital classroom platforms; creating, editing, and uploading instructional videos; and remote learning management and accountability.
Therefore, the first day of instruction has been moved from August 13th, to Thursday, August 20th to allow for teacher planning and training for remote learning.
The HISD leadership team is also developing a form where parents can notify campus principals regarding their choice of on-campus learning or remote learning. These forms will be sent out later this week.
Thank you for all of your patience and understanding as we carefully plan a safe and successful return to school!
Below you will find a link to the Hallettsville ISD Return to School Plan.
Hallettsville ISD Return to School Plan
We are looking forward to seeing your children and having a great school year!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jo Ann Bludau
Superintendent
Hallettsville ISD
Dear HISD Parents, Students, and Staff Members,
The HISD leadership team consisting of campus and district administrators, department heads, and teacher leaders met on Thursday, July 16th and Friday, July 17th to develop a customized return to school plan for the students of Hallettsville ISD. The leadership team studied the results from the survey sent to all district stakeholders on July 8th and reviewed return to school plans developed by area schools and other districts across the state.
Our goal is to develop a plan that is appropriate for our schools and community keeping in mind the available resources and local preferences. This plan will address a variety of topics including: sanitation procedures, food service options, safe transportation, and face-to-face and remote learning options among many other topics. We are planning to release our return to school plan next week.
As you may know, our district has been experiencing a bus driver shortage in recent years and currently have three vacancies in our transportation department. Therefore, we need to know which families will not be able to transport their children to and from school in the event that we cannot hire enough bus drivers to cover all of our routes.
The bus survey will be mailed to all currently enrolled students or you may complete the survey at the link below.
https://forms.gle/aHtX776mvAjxhhXc6
Also, if you know someone interested in driving a bus, please have them call Donnie Steffek at 361-798-2242 Ext. 490.
Thank you for all of your patience and understanding as we carefully plan a safe and successful return to school!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jo Ann Bludau
Superintendent
Hallettsville ISD
Dear HISD Parents, Students, and Staff Members,
The summer of 2020 is quickly flying by, and we are continuing to monitor the COVID situation locally and nationally.
We love and miss your children and look forward to seeing them in the fall. Our goal is to have school as normal as possible while remaining in compliance with state executive orders and TEA requirements.
Our leadership team has been working diligently to prepare for the 2020-2021 school year. We wanted to share links to important documents that have been released this week and give you an opportunity to share your ideas and preferences with our team of campus and district leaders.
Governor Abbott established a statewide face covering requirement and proclamation to limit gatherings:
Below is also a link to the TEA Health Guidance Document shared by Commissioner Mike Morath on July 7th. Campus and district leaders and department heads will be meeting on Thursday, July 16th to discuss HISD plans and input from parents and district stakeholders.
The UIL is releasing revisions to the COVID-19 risk mitigation guidelines for summer strength and conditioning and marching band activities. This updated guidance is effective immediately until the first day of instruction or the start of in-season activities, whichever is earlier.
For complete details please see the UIL website, but updates are briefly summarized below:
Face Coverings – Executive Order GA-29
All employees, parents, visitors and students ten years of age or older must wear face coverings or face shields upon entry to an area where UIL activities are being conducted and when not actively practicing or exercising, unless an exception applies, as outlined in the full document
Students may access locker rooms and engage in drills that involve one or more students on offense against one or more students on defense beginning 7/13/20
Updates of required protocol for individuals confirmed, suspected or exposed to COVID-19
Additionally, the previously announced “Period of no Activity” dates of July 20-21, 2020 have been rescinded, allowing schools to open facilities to student-athletes.
As the public health situation changes, and/or if subsequent Executive Orders are issued by the Office of the Governor, these guidelines may be further modified. Schools should carefully review this guidance, as well as information released by TEA, when re-evaluating local plans for reducing the risk of spreading the virus. Schools should consider their local context related to the virus and plan accordingly.
At this time, UIL plans to begin fall competition seasons as scheduled on the UIL calendar. UIL will continue to work with state officials and monitor CDC and other federal guidance to determine any further modifications to this guidance.
TEA has given school districts an opportunity to design their return to school plan. Options available to school districts include traditional school, synchronous learning, and asynchronous learning. Synchronous learning involves learning from home by connecting with the classes at school in real-time through technology. In asynchronous learning, students learn from instruction that is not necessarily being delivered in-person or in real-time. An example would be pre-recorded video lessons or learning packets with remote teacher guidance and support.
Our original survey of parents that was sent in May indicated that 84% of parents preferred keeping the original HISD 2020-2021 school calendar and 97% of respondents would send their children to school if HISD opened August 13th.
In light of the TEA developments, executive orders and the COVID-19 surge in our county and state, we would like to know your preferences as we prepare for the upcoming school year.
Likewise, as we consider the option of synchronous learning, we would like to know how many of our families have the capability to join classes in real-time using technology and Internet access at home.
Click the link below to take the HISD Strong Start 2020-21 Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HISDStrongStart2020
Thank you for taking time to review the above referenced documents and for completing the survey. Your input and involvement are so important to us.
Thank you for all of your support and for your willingness to work with us to successfully return to school!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jo Ann Bludau
Superintendent
Hallettsville ISD