The Dallas Independent School District will be resuming classes on Wednesday. In preparation, changes are being made to deal with the recent COVID-19 surge. One of the changes is in regards to the mask mandate.
The district announced that it would be extending its mask mandates for students through the spring semester. Before the extension, the mask mandate was expected to end after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in January.
The district also made changes to its quarantine requirements. Now, people who come into close contact with someone infected with COVID-19 but are fully vaccinated and do not show any symptoms will not be required to quarantine.
The district has qualified nurses available to test students and staff.
While districts like Lancaster ISD are resuming classes via remote learning due to the Omicron variant, Dallas ISD is continuing in-person classes in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of Education’s statement that suggests schools keep kids in classrooms instead of reverting to remote learning.
“Many parents don’t have the luxury of staying home. So, we have to do everything possible to keep them in school as our Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.
The Education Secretary, who believes both students and parents benefit more from in-person classes, also said that students have suffered enough in the wake of the pandemic. “The goal is full-time, in-person learning for our students,” he said. “They’ve suffered enough.”