Fearing a COVID-19 spike related to holiday gatherings, the Edinburg CISD Board of Trustees voted to defer the beginning of the district’s spring semester until at least Jan. 13 at a meeting Saturday.
Now required by the Texas Education Agency to give all students the option of returning to campus, classes were supposed to begin Monday, but a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates prompted board President Mike Farias to call an emergency meeting.
Farias said the hospitalization rate in the area is now 25.02% and originally called for the board to allow teachers to continue working remotely for another three weeks.
“It is unfortunate that we are in this position, in this situation. But with these numbers going up, the percentages going up, the last thing I want is for us to be put in a situation where a hospital has to make a decision on who they take and who they don’t take because there’s just not enough beds,” he said.
The board ultimately never voted on whether to allow employees to work remotely for another three weeks, opting to revisit that topic at a future meeting.
Trustee Carmen Gonzalez suggested deferring the resumption of class, suggesting the district could ultimately sacrifice spring break or work deeper into the summer to make up the seven additional instruction days that will be lost to winter break.
“We know that right now everybody’s very scared about what’s coming. We know it’s coming,” she said.
The move would allow the board to revisit COVID-19 preparations at its Jan. 12 meeting and assess the situation after the incubation period from potential infections produced by Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Farias said.
“And that would give us enough time to prepare and get things ready…” Farias said.
The vote to make the delay was unanimous.
“I believe that we came up with a good solution to address the situation,” Farias said.
