Houston ISD principals can stop offering online-only classes to some struggling students who in in 2021 refuse to return to campus in, districts administrators announced this week, but it is unclear how often school leaders will follow through with the option.
In a memo to sent to the district’s principals, HISD Interim Chief Academic Officer Yolanda Rodriguez said campus leaders can now employ a state-authorized power to terminate online classes for students with poor academic performance or attendance. HISD’s embrace of the policy comes as the district grapples with higher student failure rates and lower attendance rates in the first few months of the 2020-21 school year.
HISD must notify families at least two weeks in advance of their intention to discontinue remote learning before ending online classes. Families opposing the move can seek a medical exemption or request a meeting with campus staff. If HISD staff do not grant an appeal, families could refuse to return to campus and un-enroll from the district.
“The policy does not state that the district must request a return to in-person learning,” HISD administrators said in a statement Thursday. “A request to return would be made after considerable discussions and planning sessions between educators and parents. Principals are in the process of contacting parents whose children may require additional academic supports.”
HISD leaders have not explicitly encouraged or mandated that principals enforce the policy, which the Texas Education Agency allowed districts to enforce starting in November. As a result, some school leaders are uncertain about the administration’s appetite for dismissing families who will not send children back to campuses.
“If you follow the policy and the family still says the child is not coming back for whatever reason — I don’t care, I’m not comfortable, I’m afraid, I can’t get him to school — then the district needs to be prepared to open up the conversation about what happens then,” said Josephine Rice, executive director of the Houston Association of School Administrators. “I would say that conversation hasn’t happened at all.”
About half of HISD’s nearly 200,000 students were attending online-only classes before the winter break. HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said Thursday that she didn’t know how many students could be subject to the policy, which applies to those with a class average grade of 70 or below and those with three or more unexcused absences in a marking period.
About 40 percent of all HISD students failed at least one class in the first marking period, while daily attendance rates have hovered slightly above 90 percent.
Few of the state’s largest districts are employing the practice amid concerns about the potential academic impact on students and financial hit tied to enrollment losses.
Ultimately, principals could use the threat of terminating online classes to entice students back to campus, then back down when families balk at returning.
In Pasadena ISD, which announced it will employ the policy starting in January, Superintendent DeeAnn Powell said the move is partially designed to “make sure parents are hearing us” when staff try to connect with struggling students. Powell said Pasadena leaders will give students several weeks to re-engage with their coursework before moving toward ending online classes.
HISD Trustee Judith Cruz said she fears the possible ramifications for already-struggling students if they are forced to un-enroll from the district.
“I think I understand the intent of where the TEA is coming from, that it’s going to put pressure on parents,” Cruz said. “But I really worry about the outcome of a situation like that long-term.”
In a November survey of about 15,400 families with children in virtual classes, about 56 percent of said the “general risk of contracting COVID-19” factored into their decision to have their kids learn from home. About 20 percent cited concerns about the health of their children or family members.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted lower-income, Black and Hispanic families, who make up a large majority of HISD’s population.
jacob.carpenter@chron.com
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