GHS student shares concerns about on-campus safety at district board meeting

The Gonzales Independent school district has created an unsafe environment for not only the students but the teachers as well. There has been unrest in the high school since the first six weeks of school and for good reason too. The pandemic has presented the community with some challenges to ensure public safety and keep on campus school possible. GISD is working hard to implement rules and regulations meant to protect the entire community. However, enforcement of these rules is lacking and has put everyone in a critical position.

Kids are not wearing their masks properly, and teachers are not enforcing it. There have been reports of kids being exposed or infected by the coronavirus, yet action was not taken until days or weeks later. For example, football games show no sign of social distancing

or metering of the amount of people coming in and out of athletic events. Students say, ” I just bought the ticket once and show it to the person at the gate, they don’t even look at the ticket or scan it.” There is a massive overflow of people at these games and no concern for what might be spreading. These problems are being ignored, and they have cost us greatly.

Extra curricular events are not the only problem. Teachers are stressed out from the burden of trying to keep kids safe and monitor the remote learners with the on campus students. Six weeks ago, an English teacher, Mrs. Hollis quit, and the children in her classes still do not have a suitable instructor. I understand that hiring a new teacher is difficult; however, we have more administrators in GISD than teachers. That means the board has chosen to hire more people to overlook the teaching rather than actual certified educators. The teacher who has quit has been gone for over six weeks. Those kids have been set up for failure, and the board has done nothing to help in this state of emergency. The priorities of the school board are not in the right place, all the money we

have spent on coaches and administrators tells me that education does not come first in their eyes.

The lack of communication is disrespectful to the teachers who are doing their best to keep this school standing and the parents who care about our education and safety.

What do we want out of all of this? We want more meaningful support and communication. Teachers don’t want a pat on the back and kind words, they need help. Students do not need substitutes for educators, they need structure. They deserve better. Education and the safety of our school district should always come first.

Sincerely,

Arabella Reyna