From: everythinglubbock.com
Lubbock Cooper Independent School District announced on Monday virtual instruction will end Oct. 13 for secondary students and Oct. 19 for elementary students.
Superintendent of LCISD Keith Bryant said the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to suspend online learning.
“It’s been a couple of months of debate and consideration in regard to this,” Bryant said.
Bryant said student engagement and the number of coronavirus cases were some of the issues administration kept in mind when making their decision.
“We have approximately 800 students out of our 7,250 that are virtual. Really about ten percent of our population are doing virtual instruction,” Bryant said.
Of those 800 students, less than 40 percent of the elementary students are engaged, and for high school students than 10 percent of those students are engaged.
“A vast majority of our students that weren’t engaged are failing their classes. Some had done no work whatsoever,” Bryant said.
With 34 total students testing positive COVID-19 since the start of the school year, administration felt it was a good time to return to class.
Lubbock Cooper ISD parent, Mindy Paniagua agrees.
“I actually have two sons, one is in school because he plays sports and he had to go to school to do that and the other one is at home,” Paniagua said.
She said she is excited for her son to return to class, and said his grades began to feel the affects.
“It’s easy for my son to slack, he has a lot of questions,” Paniagua said. “Just something about face to face that’s much much different.”
For parent and student, Renee and Desiree Valdez, they feel the decision was made without discussing with parents first.
“I do understand the teacher’s position on it but with it being such a pandemic that is so bad and people can get infected so easily, we should have more of a right to say how we feel,” Renee said.
Desiree said she’s been on top of her classes, and her grades are fine.
“I have a student here who is doing everything she’s supposed to be doing and unfortunately there are kids that aren’t,” Renee said.
Desiree said she is concerned about going back to school as well.
“Excited to meet new people and be in the hallways and stuff but again, the pandemic is just kind of scary to go back,” Desiree said.
Below is a statement from Lubbock-Cooper ISD to parents regarding options for parents who do not want their kids to return to school:
Many families may have chosen virtual learning for their children for reasons including concerns about COVID-19, scheduling issues, the preference of a less traditional learning environment, and more. These families have options moving forward should they wish for their children to remain off-campus:
• You may unenroll your child from Lubbock-Cooper ISD and homeschool your child.
• You may transfer your child to another school district which offers virtual instruction.
• You may unenroll your child from Lubbock-Cooper ISD and enroll your child in an online school, several of which are listed below:
• Texas Tech ISD – http://www.depts.ttu.edu/k12/
• Texas Connection – http://www.connectionsacademy.com
• Texas Virtual Academy – http://www.k12.com/txva/
• iSchool Virtual Academy of Texas – https://ischoolvirtual.com/
• Resolute Academy – www.resoluteacademy.com
Please know that selection of any of the options listed above will require official documentation provided to Lubbock-Cooper ISD in a prompt manner to avoid the pursuit of legal action related to compulsory attendance.