By George Slaughter
Leslie Haack (Katy ISD photo)
The Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees reestablished the Katy Virtual Academy for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. This option enables those students to receive virtual instruction for the first nine weeks of the fall semester.
Trustees took this action Tuesday at a special board meeting.
Families wishing to register their students for the Katy Virtual Academy have a short registration window. Registration begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday and ends at 12 a.m. next Tuesday. The online classes begin August 30, and run to October 15.
Leslie Haack, deputy superintendent, said teachers will provide online instruction at the centralized Katy Virtual Academy, and will not be associated with a specific campus. She said online classes will include students from multiple district campuses.
The district will provide technology to virtual-enrolled students upon request. Grab-and-Go meals will be provided to these students.
Families wishing to register their students for the Katy Virtual Academy are asked to visit the district website. For more information, families can email kva@katyisd.org or call 281-234-2060.
Regular, in-person classroom instruction begins next Wednesday.
The trustee vote came after an extended public hearing in which proponents and critics of a possible face mask mandate had their say. Some proponents urged trustees to join with other districts and openly defy a no-mask mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott. Others, meanwhile, said the district should not oppose the governor’s executive order.
The proposed changes did not include a mask mandate, and masks remain optional in the district.
In addition to reestablishing the Katy Virtual Academy, trustees voted to resume free COVID-19 testing from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the west entrance of the Merrell Center.
Haack said the testing is free for all district employees and their insured dependents. Non-insured dependents can be tested for a $125 fee. Haack said free testing for students will resume after the Texas Education Agency confirms supply and logistics.
Haack said the district will also provide employees with up to 10 days of COVID-19 paid leave if the employee, or the employee’s child, test positive for COVID-19. Haack said the leave can be used only for absences, backdated from July 1 through June 30, 2022. The leave is for 10 days in addition to the employee’s personal leave time.
Haack said students will also be given the option of what the district calls remote conferencing, or intermittent school to home academic support. Students can use remote conferencing if they are unable to attend school because of a temporary medical condition, and the total amount of remote conferencing instruction does not exceed more than 20 instructional days over the entire school year.
In addition, one of the following requirements must be met:
- The student’s temporary medical condition is documented by a physician.
- The student has tested positive for a communicable disease.
- The student has been identified as having been in close contact for Covid 19.
The district established the Katy Virtual Academy last year in response to the pandemic, but ended it on June 1 as the district planned to return to in-person learning exclusively. But state funding was also an issue, and in a June interview, state Rep. Mike Schofield said the time ran out on the legislative session before the bill could be considered in the Texas House of Representatives. Schofield, R-Houston, has much of Katy in his district.
Tuesday, Superintendent Dr. Ken Gregorski said he was “a bit hopeful” the legislature would do something about funding for virtual education, now that it is in special session. He said Abbott put the issue on the agenda.
However, Gregorski expressed concern that there was not a quorum in the House to consider the bill. Several Democratic state representatives have left the state to prevent the House from considering a proposed state voting rights law to which they object, but do not have the votes to defeat.