Houston ISD announced Monday evening it has changed the metrics it uses to make district-level decisions about COVID-19 after Harris County infection data surpassed the district’s original threshold to trigger campus closures.
In the district’s reopening plan, Houston ISD officials had written that employees would work from home and students would learn virtually if Harris County’s COVID-19 test positivity rate averaged more than 7 percent over a 14-day period. On Monday, Harris County’s COVID-19 dashboard put the 14-day average percent of positive tests at 7.4 percent.
However, with the changes, Houston ISD schools will remain open despite the county’s positivity rate. Under the old measures, the district would have closed all campuses.
The county’s positivity rate was the only metric listed on HISD’s COVID-19 gauge, which serves as a guide for district-level decisions. It contains four color-coded threat levels, with green representing minimal risk of COVID-19 and red denoting severe risk. The gauge is currently at the district’s second-highest threat level, orange.
In an email to parents, interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said she has asked the Houston Health Department to conduct site safety assessments of certain HISD campuses, but that the district would remain at the orange threat level.
“To ensure a holistic and data-driven approach, movement between all colors will be based on a careful review of multiple metrics from both Harris County Public Health and the Houston Health Department, as well as an ongoing assessment of reported cases and data trends in our district.
The email did not specify what new metrics Houston ISD officials would analyze, and Houston ISD officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said the lack of transparency surrounding the change and the new metrics being used has confused and worried teachers and staff members.
“If they were going to use other metrics, they should have been a lot more clear in their gauge protocols,” Capo said. “They’re sending mixed messages and are eroding any trust they had with the community and employees.”
Monday’s announcement marks the second time in one week Houston ISD officials have changed their original plans for confronting COVID-19.
After schools in Texas’ largest school district reopened for in-person instruction on Oct. 19, 16 campuses closed the following day due to a handful of presumptive positive and confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
On Wednesday, officials walked back their criteria for closing campuses due to infections, requiring at least two confirmed cases of COVID-19 before shutting down individual school buildings. Previously, a single suspected or confirmed case would trigger a campus closure.
Michelle Williams, president of the Houston Education Association and a math interventionist at Kashmere High School, said Houston ISD officials were “moving the goalpost” on their COVID-19 plans by not closing down campuses after the county positivity rate rose above 7 percent.
“Teachers come with it and expose students, and vice versa, and then it goes home and you have more community spread,” Williams said. “If you look at the coronavirus, it’s an exponential growth model. Based on what’s happening across the nation, we know the positive rate is going to increase.”
Schools across the state are limited in how long they can close after COVID-19 infections under current Texas Education Agency guidance. School districts themselves set their own criteria for when to close individual campuses due to positive cases of COVID-19, but TEA rules say campuses can be closed for a maximum of five days.
Entire districts were allowed to spend the first four weeks of the school year online, and school boards could apply for a waiver that would allow them to remain virtual for an additional four weeks. Houston ISD’s waiver to keep students learning remotely expires Nov. 2.
However, TEA officials said they have granted waiver extensions in other districts. Fifty districts across the state have requested extensions through an email request process; 37 districts received a waiver extension for between one and four weeks, five determined they did not need the waiver, one withdrew its request and seven requests are currently under review. TEA officials said they have not received an extension request from HISD.
“We have not denied any requests, however some districts did request a longer period than was granted, and they were told that the agency will further review and follow up regarding additional weeks requested,” state officials said in an email.
Among those that received extensions were El Paso ISD and several other school districts after that area experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases that has strained local hospitals. El Paso education officials said on Twitter that TEA would monitor COVID-19 conditions and review the waiver extension on a week-to-week basis.
Unless such a waiver extension is granted to Houston ISD, the district cannot close all of its schools due to community spread of COVID-19 alone after Nov. 2.
“I’m confident if they have done it for one school district, they’ll do it for HISD,” Williams said.
Capo was less certain.
“Right now, from what I’ve seen from the state, I don’t know that it matters how much the COVID cases are rising,” he said. “They want the schools open, and that’s what they’re going to do. I hope that they prove me wrong.”
shelby.webb@chron.com
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