PI-ISD opts for online classes all year as COVID-19 cases rise

By Gaige Davila
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com

Point-Isabel Independent School District (PI-ISD) will hold classes online for the upcoming school year, as COVID-19 cases continue rising in the Laguna Madre area, Cameron County and across the state. 

In a unanimous decision, the PI-ISD School Board Trustees voted to delay on-campus instruction for the 2020-2021 school year, during an emergency special meeting on July 10. Classes will be held online, as they were at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, when on-campus instruction was suspended across the state by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The resolution says PI-ISD schools will not reopen for on-campus instruction until board members determine it is safe to return. Faculty can use their classrooms and campuses to conduct remote learning.

Board members, PI-ISD faculty and parents discussed the resolution for over an hour in a virtual meeting held over Zoom, as the stream reached its 100 person capacity.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) says school districts closing their campuses from on-campus instruction will not risk losing state funding, walking back their initial order that Texas schools had to be open five days a week for all students who choose to return to school. For school districts to retain their funding, a local health authority must order schools to stay closed, and remote instruction must be available to all students.