Parents still wary of schools

King Davis was stunned when he saw how many parents wanted to keep their children home from Sheldon ISD schools in the fall. Across grade levels and campuses, more than 48 percent of the 2,324 parents who responded to a survey said they wouldn’t send their kids back to in-person classes on campus.

Those fears were reported June 18, just as the Houston region began seeing an enormous spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, setting records for both data points every day for the past two weeks, and before Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday suspended elective surgical procedures in Harris County and Texas’ other large metropolitan areas.

“I actually thought we would have more who would want to send them back,” said Davis, superintendent of the northeast Harris County school district. “I really believe most families would love to send their kids back to be educated in a traditional environment, but there’s so much unknown that’s causing some anxiety.”

As many as 50 percent of parents in some greater Houston school districts may not send their students back to school this fall, according to surveys conducted by at least half a dozen local education systems.

About 55 percent of respondents in Alief ISD said they were at least somewhat concerned about sending their kids back to physical classrooms. Among parents of students in KIPP Houston charter schools,about 44 percent said they were interested in pursuing online-only education this fall. More than one third of parents who responded to a survey in Al-dine ISD said they, too, would prefer to keep their kids home, and another 31 percent said they would need more information to decide whether they would let their children return.

Little state guidance

Districts that are seeking parent feedback now, including Houston, Katy, Pasadena and Conroe ISDs, may find more parents unwilling to send their students back. The Texas Education Agency itself has been reluctant to provide guidelines for how to reopen campuses this fall, twice postponing publishing requirements and guidance this month. Draft guidance obtained by the Chronicle, however, shows the agency considered giving districts wide discretion when making decisions related to COVID-19 considerations.

Shreela Sharma, an epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health, advised against reopening schools in regions with widespread community transmission of the novel coronavirus — a status that Houston currently meets. However, Sharma said the region’s outlook could change by August, in which case, the benefits of returning to campuses could outweigh the concerns of some students and staff.

“To reopen safely and successfully and stay open, they have to be in an environment where the city and the county have containment of spread at the community level,” Sharma said. “That’s the bare minimum.”

The situation could change after the academic year begins as well. If cases of COVID-19 decline, parents who originally opted to do online learning may change their minds and try to put their kids back in school.

King said logistically, students would likely be stuck with the option their parents chose at the beginning of the year for at least one grading period, or perhaps for one semester. Superintendent HD Chambers in Alief ISD agreed.

But Chambers said it’s not just parents and students who are concerned about going back. About 52 percent of 3,401 staff members who filled out asurvey in Alief ISD said they would not feel comfortable returning to school, and 41 percent support doing only distance learning next school year.

“There’s a difference between an underlying health condition that truly warrants staying away from school or large gathering versus someone who’s worried,” Chambers said. “We’re all worried, but we’re going to work and we need to make sure our health protocols are so secure and so good that they feel a level of comfort coming back to work.”

Staff uncomfortable, too

However, few local districts have published specific frameworks and protocols for reopening, including how they will sanitize campuses each day, what social distancing protocols they will require and how they will respond if there’s an outbreak. Candis Houston, president of the Aldine chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said she has asked Aldine ISD’s administration to put out a plan before July 6, the last date teachers can resign. That way, she said, staff can decide whether the district’s plan will address their concerns or if they should apply to another district that has a plan that better fits their needs.

Houston said a survey of her membership found that 57 percent had underlying health conditions or lived with someone who did. Members’ two main concerns, Houston said, were about what safety protocols would look like and how they would be enforced.

“On the high school side you can tell them to stay where they need to be, but little kids are touchy feel-y. They want to hug and touch their classmates, and you have a little more interaction on elementary level,” she said.

There could be some options available for teachers uncomfortable in a room full of students. In Sheldon, King has asked teachers if they would be willing to return to their classrooms to record video lessons. About 44 percent said they would, while 55 percent said they would be willing to teach students face-to-face.

Still, parents like Denise Cupit are reluctant to send their kids back.

Her husband is a health care workers in an emergency room in the west Houston suburb, and although children are less likely to experience severe symptoms of COVID-19 than older people, she worries her 6-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son could come home with the disease.

Cupit had originally planned to return to work this year after staying home with her children, but she has put off those plans for the foreseeable future. Even though homeschooling was achallenge in spring, and her 6-year-old daughter struggled after losing to social interactions, Cupit said returning now is not worth the risk.

She said she doesn’t want them to return until community spread is practically zero, or until there’s a widely available and safe vaccine.

“I would rather them have a ‘meh’ experience in education for a semester or two than contract an illness that can cause problems in life later on,” Cupit said.

Jacob Carpenter contributed to this report. shelby.webb@chron.com