So Far, Mostly Good as LGISD Resumes Classes
It was Friday night after one of the most unusual weeks in La Grange Independent School District History, but the work week wasn’t over for Superintendent Bill Wagner.
Clad in a matching Leopard purple and gold shirt and face mask, Wagner was monitoring the La Grange football scrimmage from the stands as he reflected on the dawn of a school year in the middle of a pandemic that no one will soon forget.
After staggered open houses Monday and Tuesday, LGISD began classes Thursday.
“After two days, overall it’s been really good. I’m really proud of the teachers and the staff and the students for handling all the challenges and changes,” Wagner said.
Maybe most importantly, Wagner said no one at LGISD tested positive for COVID-19 last week (as of Friday), “and we hope to keep it that way.”
Wagner said 1,473 students attended in-person classes at LGISD while another 321 tuned in for online instruction.
In real time video of teachers’ instruction from the classroom could be viewed at home by those 321 students, and they could even turn on their computer microphones and ask teachers questions.
Wagner said the district’s new director of Technology Director of Technology, David Bennett was pleased with how the remote learning has gone.
But it wasn’t a perfect start to school.
Pick-up and drop-off at the elementary, while trying to maintain social distancing, and in the middle of massive school construction, caused major headaches for parents, students and teachers alike.
Anyone near the school in the morning or afternoon could see extra long lines of cars extending down streets.
But Wagner did say there was a 15-minute improvement from the first day to the second day in drop-off times.
For those parents that instead used the school’s bus system, there were issues of kids on wrong busses and extra long route times.
Those things happen at the beginning of every school year, Wagner said, but the school is working to correct those issues as new Director of School Operations and Safety Sharon Muzny takes over direction of the bus system from Neal Miller, who retired this summer.
Wagner said about 500 students are using the school bus system this year (down slightly from previous years), and that is one area of the school they have found it very hard to social distance, but they have reminded parents and students that masks are to be worn on the busses.
Friday’s football scrimmage ended with any major incidents, closing the book on the first week of school.
Two days down. Only nine months to go.
“Each day is going to present new challenges,” Wagner said. “But we’re making safety the top priority.”