GISD plans for students to return Sept. 22

At the regular meeting of the Gonzales Independent School District held on Sept. 14, Superintendent John Schumacher said the district is planning on having students return to in-person learning on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

This comes after encouragement from local health authorities, including pediatrician Humberto Rivas and Gonzales Memorial Hospital Chief of Staff Commie Hisey, who say the spread of COVID-19 among school children is very small.

Rivas said that nearby districts such as Shiner ISD and Moulton ISD have seen no outbreaks since the beginning of school, and Hisey said he believes this is due to the wide adoption of mask wearing by students, staff and faculty on school campuses.

Both expressed that they were in support of students returning to campus.

The Board also voted to approve the District Improvement Plan as it was presented by Elementary Director of Curriculum and Instruction Tessa Cain and Secondary Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amanda Fullilove. This plan is intended to ensure students are performing well on state and other exams. GISD’s plan includes five goals, which if met, are intended to help foster a learning environment that is effective, positive and inviting to all stakeholders.

Other agenda items discussed at the meeting include:

• Approval of minutes from the Aug. 10 and Aug. 24 meetings, as well as budget amendments regarding the repurposing of out of date textbooks as additional reading material for students, or to be donated or sold.
• The district’s Asynchronous learning plan which is to be submitted to the Texas Education Agency was approved. This plan outlines how the district has been handling Asynchronous learning, as well as how it will handle this educational model should a campus need to go completely online.
• The board received financial reports, including a superior financial transparency rating, as well as a quarterly investment report. Reports were also given from principals of all campuses, indicating that the academic performance of many students was certainly affected by being out of school for an extended amount of time.