Keller ISD School Board Pushes Start Of School Back 1 Week To August 26
KELLER, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The Keller ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday night to delay the start of school by a week, and parents still have the option to send their children back to the classroom or have them learn online.
Classes will begin Wednesday, August 26, instead of August 19.
The first three days will be half-days to give teachers and families time to adjust.
The board listened to nearly two hours of public comment first.
Many parents begged the board to still with offering parents a choice of online or classroom instruction, while the majority of teachers called on the district to start classes with remote learning only.
"These are uncharted waters. So sometimes we have to shift even if we don't want to shift. Sometimes we have to shift because it's the right thing to do," said Superintendent Rick Westfall.
But the choice to send kids back to the classroom remains.
"I'm really glad they kept that. I would have hated it if they had taken that away from the parents, so I think it's a really good compromise the board came up with," said parent Brittainy Fink.
"We're placing our teachers at risk. There was a huge teacher outcry tonight and that went unheeded. It seemed the board knew how they were going to vote," said Courtney Mullaney, a parent and wife of a teacher.
The board says there's a possibility this plan could be altered - especially if state guidelines change again.
But at this point, teachers should prepare to welcome students back to the classroom in a little more than weeks.