HOUSTON, Texas — Shadow Creek High School normally serves more than 2,500 students. But currently, only a portion of the school's showed up for classes on Monday due to Alvin ISD’s phased-in return to in-person instruction.
"We're pleased with how it's going," said communications director Renae Rives. "We haven’t heard of any issues that weren’t just basic issues, you know, with coming back to school.”
Under Alvin ISD's plan, different grades start back on different days and there are even deep-cleaning days on which students return to remote learning.
All students who choose to learn on campus will eventually return.
Rives said protocols are in place to deal with anything that comes up related to COVID-19.
"We have different procedures in place for whenever something does happen, or if it happens,” said Rives.
Phased-in plans went into effect Monday for Pearland ISD and Conroe ISD as well.
Some students returned to in-person learning depending on the first letter of their last names.
"Right now, our plan is that four weeks from now, all of the kids who elected on-campus will be together," said Pearland ISD superintendent, Dr.John Kelly. "And that’s 48% of our student body." "So, between now and then, we’ll see how all of this goes and see about the metrics for the pandemic.”
Conroe ISD superintendent, Dr. Curtis Null, told us it was good to see people in buildings again after delays pushed back its plan last week.
"The word that comes to mind, really, is “joy,” said Null. "The joy has returned back into our buildings, you could see it, feel it. And although you couldn’t necessarily see all of their faces because they were wearing masks, you could feel the smiles from the kids to the teachers to everybody involved.”
Meanwhile, all districts continue to try and bridge the digital divide.
As we’ve reported, Houston-area districts alone have requested more than a quarter of a million additional computers or WiFi hot-spots.
"We have some students that just do not have the infrastructure for the internet,” said Rives.
District leaders said they plan to learn as they go and adapt to any new challenges as needed, just like so many families have done.