After eliciting feedback from Dragon families and staff in late June, Carroll ISD has released the results of its COVID-19 survey on returning to school next month.
According to the draft fall planning guide, the district is considering several factors for learning in the fall, such as regular in-person classes, virtual instruction and whether those online lessons should be recorded or in real-time. Of the 4,955 homes the survey was sent to, the district collected 2,472 responses from parents and 605 responses from staff.
“We’re not alone in this,” CISD Assistant Superintendent for Board and Community Relations Julie Thannum says at a July 13 board meeting. “Everybody is wondering about quarantines and shutdowns and whether we should provide masks or not, what it’s going to cost. Every district across the state is trying to answer the same questions as we are.”
According to the survey results, 11.1% of both students and staff have lung problems . More than 60% of respondents say they are comfortable returning to school, while more than 69% support a mask requirement. More than 48% of parents prefer in-person instruction delivery for their children, while 29.8% prefer a hybrid model between in-person and virtual instruction. More than 50% of both parent and staff respondents say that all Dragon families should be notified by mass email when there is a positive case of COVID-19.
While becoming infected with COVID-19 is a concern for more than half of respondents, students’ social and emotional needs, as well as academic progress, is also a major concern for over 75% of respondents. Both parents and staff agree that they prefer on-site classes with safety precautions, and parents prefer synchronous instruction for remote learning, with 43.6% stating they strongly disagree with asynchronous learning.
As the district continues to finalize processes for the fall, Julie says parents will get a chance to request remote learning for their child during the student verification process from August 3-12. The district will send out notifications when the link goes live.
To read the survey results for yourself, go to the district’s #SAFEdragon page at SouthlakeCarroll.edu.