Frisco ISD First In North Texas To Offer Online Learning In Wake Of Rise In COVID-19 Cases
Richardson ISD Latest North Texas School District To Offer 'Virtual Classroom Option'
FRISCO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Frisco ISD is the first school district in North Texas to announce plans to offer online learning related to the rise in COVID-19 cases.
Frisco ISD parents will only have 48 hours to make their decision.
This applies to Early Childhood through sixth grade students who are still ineligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
They will be allowed to learn from home when school starts.
Frisco ISD is the third largest school district in North Texas with 65,000 students.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip told CBS 11, the decision was the result of an upward trend in COVID-19 cases.
He said he has spoken to several other neighboring school districts that have yet to make a decision.
Parents can still send their kids to school if they choose when classes begin August 12.
If they prefer to have their children learn from home those students will start school on August 16.
"I know everyone's concerned about learning loss," said Superintendent Waldrip. "We've implemented some programs and strategies to deal with that. One thing that we were encouraged by coming out of last year, we did our analysis of our students in state assessments, and our virtual learners as a group actually did better on state assessments."
Waldrip said 80 teachers have applied for online teaching positions.
He said he hopes that the online option will only be needed short term.
CLICK HERE for the application.