CISD School Closure

Posted Date: 01/14/2022

Community:

I have said before that Covid has a mind of it own and it tends to take us in whatever direction that meets its own preferences. I think we all thought we took Covid’s biggest blow in the Spring of 2020 and who of us would have imagined that in the year 2020 we’d still be making decisions with regards to Covid. After assessing Cheatham ES’s attendance level the currently sits at a dismal 75% now, we must move to close the campus and re-set ourselves for a healthier start on January 20th.

The hesitation yesterday lies in the changes that lie ahead for teachers, students and parents as we progress through the Spring. Unlike school closures previously, these days or as TEA refers to minutes will need to be made up. TEA requires all schools to deliver at least 75,600 minutes. Both campuses began the year well above this expectation but a 4 day shut down in September, a 2 day break to support the band’s advancement to state in November, and now staring at a 5 day shut down due to Covid concerns places Cheatham will under meeting the state’s expectation. The forthcoming changes will affect only PK-5 students.

We will add 10 minutes to front of our remaining days of the school year and begin school at 7:30 a.m. instead of 7:40 a.m. and we will end our school day at 3:40 p.m. instead of 3:30 p.m. for the remaining 81 days of school left. This will add 2025 minutes (almost 3 days) to our academic program for the 2021-22 school year and leave us 2.5 days short. We will make up the remainder by declaring April 18th teachers’ professional development day to a normal school day for grades PK-5. The last day of school for kids this year was originally scheduled for a half day on May 26th. That day is now a full day of instruction for grades PK-5. May 27th was schedule to be a teacher work day and that day will now be the PK-5 students’ last day of instruction and will be a full day. I considered it paramount to end school in the month of May so that our summer school programming is not disrupted.

I am thankful to be a part of a community that is understanding of the adjustments and changes that Covid takes this I.S.D. through.