Teachers at Beaumont ISD will not have to teach both virtual and in-person next year after frustration and complaints of burnout throughout the 2020-21 school year.
That is one of the recent changes Superintendent Shannon Allen announced at the monthly board meeting after holding a listening session with teachers from all 27 campuses.
“Everyone is weary, this has been so much,” Allen said during her monthly update. “The mental anguish, the workload, the pace…”
“The burnout that they are experiencing right now is real.”
The district is also piloting a streamlined attendance model at several schools after hearing firsthand about the time and stress that teachers have experienced attempting to submit attendance for the virtual and in-person students.
“We don’t have the final answer of what BISD will look like, but regardless of what happens we will not be doing both virtual and in-person,” Allen said. “We may consider having a separate virtual school.”
The district is also looking into revising a calendar they approved in February, which pushed the last day of school into June.
A possible new calendar, which will likely be presented at the next board meeting, would push the first week back one week to Aug. 17 and bring the last day to May 27. With that calendar, intercession days that could be used for targeted instruction or as bad-weather days would be pushed to the end of the year.
Allen also addressed STAAR exams, which began last week despite statewide issues with testing software.
There are still a large percentage of students who have yet to take writing exams, including more than half of students for English I and 44% of students for English II.
While many of those students are virtual, board members and Allen stressed that skipping out on the test is not an option.
“Although state assessments will not be used for state or federal accountability purposes for the 2020-21 school year, the state assessments will provide equitable baseline data necessary to determine actual learning loss,” Allen said. “It (also) counts towards graduation, even though the state isn’t holding the district accountable, the district is holding students accountable.”
Graduation requirements include the requirement of several end-of-course exams. STAAR exams are one opportunity to fulfill that requirement.
“Parents, don’t allow students to lose an opportunity to take the test,” Allen said. “Graduation requirements have not been waived. We have several students remaining in those testing areas.”
The Texas Education Agency has waived accountability scores for the school year, but districts “may be subject to agency review if excessive absences for the assessment occur.”
The district also voted to adopt a new cloud-based internet filter for students beginning the next school year, the latest in the district’s efforts to secure and streamline technology services for every student.
Thursday’s meeting was the last for several board members who are not running for reelection, including the most recent president Thomas Sigee, who withdrew from the race after realizing he no longer lived in the district he was running for.
“Continue to support the superintendent with all that you do,” he said in his final “pep talk.” “Because it does matter. Everything that we do, it does matter.”
He looked back on the chaotic two years the district has had.
“This district is going in the right direction. If it wasn’t for (Tropical Depression) Imelda, and if it wasn’t for this COVID-19, we would be so much further ahead. But it did happen,” he said. “And you’ve got to deal with the cards that you are dealt. Keep going forward, never quit.”
“BISD is up-and-coming,” he said, before gaveling out one last time.
isaac.windes@hearstnp.com
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