HARLINGEN — The Harlingen school district is sending parents surveys asking what kind of instructional model they’d like for their children this school year.
“ We’re asking our parents to help us as we plan for what we hope is a successful opening in the fall,” said Alicia Noyola, chief academic officer for the Harlingen school district.
Noyola said parents will have the opportunity to indicate whether they want their children to have face to face instruction or continued online learning. The district developed School@Home in March after closing its campuses to protect students from the COVID 19 pandemic. Schools opened for some face to face instruction in June before closing again this week.
“ We’ve been really methodical about how we did our planning to ensure that we are providing the best setting for students when they return in the fall,” Noyola said. “And so we are getting ready to start implementation of those plans.”
Parents and students will see some changes in the district’s programming.
“ We anticipate that even if a parent chooses remote instruction it’s going to be very different from what they experienced in the spring, obviously a lot of lessons learned,” Noyola said. “We’d like to communicate the message about our parents making some decisions with regard to what the fall will look like for their child.”
With all the changes taking place, how can the district know if there will even be face to face programming this year?
“ We’re seeing a lot of changes happening and so it’s very fluid at this point in time,” Noyola said. “But we do anticipate, whether it’s on August 10 or we open later, that ultimately there will come a point next school year where we will have the opportunity for face to face.”
These decisions are all in accordance with mandates by the state.
“ As of now the commissioner of education is anticipating that schools will reopen in the fall with either a face to face option, a remote option or both, so we are preparing for both,” Noyola said.
Remote instruction may be a choice or a necessity due to restrictions. The district has numerous contingency plans in place, designed through careful planning.
“ I think we’ve been very methodical and systemic in how we plan,” Noyola said. “We spent a lot of planning time this summer to get ready for whatever may come out. So I think we’re at a point today where we’re ready for our parents to make some decisions.”
