Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is hosting a series of Community Conversations at various schools within the DISD, beginning this month and continuing through the end of the school year. The goal of this series of public meetings is to hear from the public and highlight the district’s journey and success beyond the classroom, according to FOX 4 News.
During the February 8 event at Seagoville High School, Hinojosa spoke to the media about plans to lift the district’s mask mandate. As the circumstances stand now, Hinojosa expects to drop the mask requirement on March 14, when the students return to class from spring break.
“We were single digits [in the number of COVID-19 infections] in teachers yesterday, and the [number of] students are not much higher. So it looks like we are finally in a good place,” Hinojosa said.
The number of COVID-19 cases for Dallas ISD on Friday, February 11 was 25, and the total for the week was 281.
However, Hinojosa stated that he may make changes earlier than the end of spring break. “We may revisit things earlier because there’s been so much cooperation from people,” he added. “We’ve got to be reasonable about how to move forward.”
Hinojosa had instituted the mask mandate for the district in August 2021 despite Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates for government entities, including school districts. At the time, Hinojosa said his lawyers advised him that he was acting within the law because the order did not include Dallas ISD and that it only applied to Dallas County.
During the Community Conversation, Hijonosa also revealed that the district is doing very well in retaining its teaching staff, despite the loss of teachers in other school districts statewide.
Though Dallas ISD reported the lowest teacher turnover rate in the DFW area at the end of 2021, Rena Honea, president of Dallas’ Alliance-AFT teachers union, said she knew of several teachers who plan to leave at the end of the 2021-2022 school year due to various reasons including concern about the Omicron variant as well as physical and mental stress and exhaustion.
The next Community Conversation is scheduled for February 15 at South Oak Cliff High School, beginning at 6:30 p.m.