Newly released guidance from the Texas Education Agency indicates schools will resume on-campus instruction in the fall, but with certain public health provisions, including mandatory masks for students.
In a Public Health Planning Guidance document released to school districts on Tuesday, the TEA outlines that schools “must provide daily on-campus attendance for students otherwise entitled to attend school … whose parents wish them to attend on campus each day.”
Any parent who desires to keep their children out of school, however, “may request that their student be offered virtual instruction from any school system that offers such instruction.” Additionally, “if a parent requests virtual instruction and the school does not offer it, the parent may enroll in another school that does offer it for transfer.”
Parents and other adults can visit schools, as permitted by local school system policies, but are required to “follow virus prevention and mitigation requirements of the school.”
Students over the age of 10 will be required to wear masks, in accordance with the executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott that mandates masks in counties with more than 20 reported coronavirus cases, unless the mandate is removed prior to the start of classes.
While classes in most districts are set to resume next month, the TEA stresses that “changes to the public health situation over the course of the summer may necessitate changes to this guidance.”
