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Allen ISD has no plans to offer virtual learning at this time, the district said.
The decision comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Thursday expanding access to virtual learning and making state funding available for school districts with online programs.
“As this point in time, there is no plan to offer a virtual learning option. If a decision to offer virtual learning is made by the district in the future, we will update our parents immediately,” district spokesman David Hicks wrote in an email.
COVID-19 cases have been surging in North Texas, particularly in schools. Children under the age of 12 have not yet been approved to receive vaccines for the virus, and pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations hit an all-time high in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the weekend, the president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council said Monday.
In Allen, active cases have risen 58% in the last two weeks, and as of Sept. 10, more than 18% of Collin County hospital beds are occupied by patients with COVID-19, the county’s dashboard shows.
Earlier this week, a group of Allen parents filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the school board over the district’s COVID-19 policies, which do not include a mask mandate.
The district said Friday that its decision about virtual learning was made based on academic interest of students, not on funding.
“Allen ISD remains steadfast in its commitment to refocusing its efforts during the 2021-2022 school year in providing an excellent education to our students and supporting their academic, social, and emotional needs in an in-person learning environment,” Hicks wrote.
The back-and-forth between state officials and school districts took a new turn Friday, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against Richardson ISD and others, following through on his pledge to sue ones that mandate masks. More suits were expected, the attorney general said.