For the second year in a row, districts are forced to respond in a pandemic, and school districts across Texas are being bombarded with parent demands.
This school year, most districts have done away with COVID protocols that were introduced in the 2020-2021 academic year.
“We want ventilation, Merv-13 filters, and at lunch we want to see that kids are spread out,” demanded Dr. Vikas Jain, a physician and a parent to multiple children in the Frisco Independent School District.
We are just two weeks into school and close to 20 months into the pandemic. And Thursday, roughly 150 parents held a rally outside the Frisco ISD administration at noon.
Group organizers Kelly Karthik and Alka Jwala said they want virtual learning available to all grades, mask mandates, and better COVID mitigation strategies on campus.
The district did make online learning accommodations available to students who can't yet receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The option is costing FISD $40 per student per day in lost funding from the state, according to the district.
"We continue to evaluate our protocols where we see opportunity to effectively do so," it said in a statement released last week.
But, even with the online option for lower grades, the district said it has thousands more students back on campus this year, "which means some of the protocols we were able to utilize last year are no longer feasible," the district added.
According to FISD, earlier this week, it did add in some of these tactics to its mitigation strategies, including limiting the size of gatherings and minimizing indoor contact between students during lunch, transition times and other campus events and activities.
In neighboring Allen ISD, eighth grader Safira Lakhani gave an emotional testimony at a packed Allen ISD board meeting on Monday.
“You talk about choice, and what choice did you give us,” she cried out.
The speech has been seen and heard on many social media channels, including TikTok. Her family told WFAA it was Safira’s decision to talk that evening.
“We both woke up yesterday and we were like, ‘Wow, it’s really made its way around,’” said her mother Snober, who is a registered nurse.
Parents Shakeel and Snober pulled Safira out of public school for private school where they said it is safer. The family told WFAA two of her siblings have compromised immune systems.
"I cried. I had tears rolling down," Snober said. "It resonated with so many families who are going through this right now."
The Lakhanis told WFAA they crossed their fingers and sent their fourth grader to public school on Monday, only to learn the next day, a classmate tested positive for COVID. They have since kept their child in quarantine.
“To me it’s like Russian Roulette," Shakeel said. "It’s stressful, it’s exhausting, and it shouldn’t have to be that way."
Neither Frisco or Allen have mask requirements. Starting Thursday, Plano ISD required masks on all its campuses, barring any exemptions. Frisco does offer virtual learning for Early Childhood Programs to sixth grade. Allen has no virtual learning option.
“It’s frustration, it’s anger," Jain said. "Every day, I have to send my kids to school with the fear that hopefully they don’t home with COVID today."
The group of parents from Frisco is asking for the district to host another emergency board meeting in hopes of discussing mitigation strategies. The group is also wanting to include those strategies into the board agenda. At this time, neither Allen or Frisco ISD have an emergency board meeting scheduled.