Eanes school board passes resolution against STAAR testing this year

The Eanes school board passed a resolution Tuesday night urging the state to suspend STAAR testing and the accountability ratings that result for this school year in a 4-3 vote. Without the pressure of producing high STAAR test results, schools can focus on educating students and filling gaps in instruction caused by coronavirus-related shutdowns.

Much of the board's discussion of this resolution centered on other districts, which members said are more likely than Eanes to see STAAR scores drop this year because of the pandemic.

Several board members who voted for this resolution argued that the STAAR test is flawed and will highlight existing inequities, punishing schools that are already struggling this year.

Ellen Balthazar, the board member for Place 7, voted against the resolution. She said she would be in favor of eliminating the accountability ratings associated with STAAR, but that struggling school districts count on STAAR tests to see how they are doing.

The board also received an update on coronavirus and school operations, which focused on the 600 students who returned to campuses Monday for the second grading period, bringing the total number of students doing in-person learning to 60% districtwide.

Deputy Superintendent Jeff Arnett said the initial surge of 52% of students returning to campus on Sept. 21 prepared schools to handle the small increase this week.

The board also discussed enrollment numbers, which are down across the district by 224 students. This is a problem that districts across the state and country are facing, Superintendent Tom Leonard said.

Arnett said those 224 represent a number of categories, including 48 families who chose not to send their students to kindergarten this year, 46 students who went to private school, 35 who moved out of state, 18 who are being homeschooled and 12 who are doing an online schooling program. He also said that 74 new students came from private schools to the district this year.

Leonard said it is not clear yet how the drop in enrollment will affect funding. The state is holding the district harmless for the decrease in enrollment until January, he said, but after that the district is not sure what will happen.

To accommodate the increased number of students on campus this week, many classrooms have adopted a blended learning strategy, which means teachers are providing instruction to on-campus and remote students at the same time. About half of elementary school classrooms are doing blended learning as of this week, although some started earlier.

The district chose this model to reduce the number of students who had to switch teachers when they switched between remote and on campus learning. So far this year, only about 6% of students have had to change teachers in the district.

Vivian Rojas, a second grade teacher at Bridge Point Elementary School, told the board that blended learning is going well, and that teachers have been given everything possible to prepare for the transition. However, she said teachers are also working long hours to make blended learning work in their classrooms.

“You could come into the room and it would look effortless,” she said. “But you don’t see the amount of time the teacher put in to make it that way. ... What I am hearing from a lot of teachers is that it is not sustainable to work this much because everybody is just exhausted.”

The district leadership team will meet next week to see if they can provide teachers with more prep time in their schedules, which might not happen until the spring. The district is working on a plan for the spring and Arnett said ideally that plan would be presented to the board in November.

The coronavirus presentation also included information about the district’s 14-day quarantine requirement for those who have come into close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. A close contact is defined as anyone who spent more than 15 minutes less than six feet away from the person with or without a mask. The district requires close contacts to quarantine at home for 14 days, a rule that is based on public health guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which the state education agency has urged districts to follow.

Each campus has a COVID-19 communication team, and when there is a positive case associated with a campus all families and staff are notified by email, Arnett said. The team also calls and emails families notifying them that their child was a close contact and needs to stay home. Leonard said the district tries to be in touch with all close contacts on the same day as the positive test result is reported, but because test results are reported at all hours of the day and over the weekend, that is not always possible.

The board also voted to switch two members of the newly formed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee because they do not live in the district.

The board also approved an agreement between the district and Travis County for school resource officers to be provided to the district.

The board also voted to accept $47,410 from the Westlake Chap Club, $35,250 from the West Ridge Middle School Booster Club and $26,541 from the Barton Creek Elementary Booster Club.