Friday, April 26, 2024
As part of sweeping restrictions designed to stem the flow of COVID-19, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered schools in the state on Thursday to close doors through April 3.
At Granbury ISD’s Tuesday meeting, the board decided to close through March 27. Tolar ISD was also slated to close through March 27, while Lipan ISD decided earlier this week to remain closed through April 10.
NOT A SURPRISE
GISD Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said Abbott’s announcement of closures was “certainly not a surprise,” although he didn’t know how long the closure would be.
“I know that Gov. Abbott is certainly privy to more info than I am,” Glenn said. “I believe that if he’s taken the measures to close schools, he must have had first-hand knowledge that that’s the right move for the public.
“Certainly when we made the decision to close schools this week and next, we had been in communication with the state.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Glenn cited the uncertainty of the virus’s reach in Hood County and the extensive travel by students and faculty over spring break as reasons to extend the closures of schools.
“A lot of people traveled over spring break. A lot of people traveled to Europe and out of state,” he said. “We sent some kids to Canada, we sent kids to Florida.
“There are no cases (of COV1D-19) in Hood County, but there is also very limited testing in Hood County as well. And all professionals I’ve spoken with have told us to be prepared for cases in Hood County, that it will not last.”
School board member Nancy Alana said, “Hopefully we’ll get those tests soon and people can start taking those tests, and we can have a more accurate idea of what’s going on in our county.”
One group from GHS went to Disney World in Orlando and were later notified that they had flown through an airport in which a TSA agent tested positive for COVID-19.
The board was in unanimous agreement with the extension of school closures and the decision to fund salaries and wages for staff. Funding for wages and benefits “will continue to flow” from the state, Glenn said.
County Attorney Matt Mills attended the meeting in an unofficial capacity and asked to speak to the board as a citizen. Mills expressed a desire for schools to remain open.
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
“We look to y’all, the community and county does,” Mills said to the board. “I would ask y’all to press on.
“It’s going to hit the poorest people the hardest, as these types of things always do. How are people coping when they have to go to work and they don’t have a place to put their kids, and day cares aren’t wanting to have huge gatherings either?”
Glenn, along with board president Mark Jackson, acknowledged Mills’ concerns as valid, but said they believed it was in the best interests of the health of students and their families to dose.
“This is not the flu,” Glenn said. “This is going to be especially hard on individuals over 60 years old, those with lung conditions or heart conditions. And we know specifically in Hood County, our community is susceptible to that.
“And so with that in mind, just because we have young kids in school, doesn’t mean they don’t go home and visit with their grandparents, go to nursing homes to see their grandparents, that they don’t go to grocery stores and interact with adults that may be more susceptible.”
LIPAN EXTENDS CLOSURE
Lipan ISD Superintendent Ralph Carter posted a letter to parents and students Wednesday that announced the extension of LISD school closures until April 10.
“Our health officials report that cases are continuing to spread in the state, and an increase in confirmed cases in our county seems likely,” the letter read. “Suspending operations for this length of time will allow us to determine, in coordination with local health officials, whether the virus is continuing to have community spread or whether it has been contained.”
