EULESS, Texas — When Frisco ISD announced Tuesday that it would offer online learning for the first few months of the school year to students who aren't old enough to be vaccinated, Anne Miller thought of her own child.
"I so wish that was an option," Miller wrote in a follow-up email.
Miller's 5-year-old daughter is registered to start kindergarten next Wednesday at an elementary school in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. However, Miller said she and her ex-husband have been watching the numbers and consulting with a family friend who works as a COVID data scientist.
"'Their words were 'Watch it for three weeks. It’s going to be a napalm bomb going off.' That was kind of the last straw that pushed it over the line," Miller said.
They made the choice to homeschool their daughter for the start of the school year until they see progress in case numbers and pediatric hospitalizations.
"Just to see it smash into kids, I don’t think it’s fair to my daughter or the other kids that are out there to not have these protection policies for them," Miller said.
Cook Children's, a pediatric medical system in D-FW, reported Wednesday that there are 24 kids currently in the hospital with COVID-19. While the spokesperson for Cook Children's couldn't confirm how many of them were unvaccinated, or too young to be eligible for the vaccine, she did provide context to the numbers.
The spokesperson reported that on Monday, two days ago, there were 16 kids hospitalized.
The percent of kids getting tested in the system who receive a positive result, the positivity rate, is currently 11.3%. She said it was 1% on June 2. The other observation the spokesperson made is that the highest number of hospitalized COVID patients the system has had was 27, back in January. While the spike seen last winter was gradual, the increase in cases North Texas is seeing now has been quick, the spokesperson said.
"They’re going into a battleground, and you have no idea what the outcome is going to be," Miller said.
Miller said she would be more comfortable if local school district boards had the authority to make decisions on mask mandates and if younger children could be vaccinated.
While she said she is grateful for the option to homeschool, the third-semester nursing school student said figuring out how to make that work was a process, even though she and her ex-husband have a good co-parenting relationship.
“If he’s not able to be home with [my daughter], what does that look like? Do I have to quit nursing school when I’m so close to graduating to stay home with her? What does that look like?" Miller said.
Even so, she said she feels for the tens of thousands of North Texas families who don't have the option.
“It’s pretty much mask your kid or not. That’s all you can do," Miller said. "What parent wants to put their kid at risk if they feel like they’re putting their child at risk? It tugs on your heart, and it’s scary. As a parent, one of the biggest things you’re charged to do is keep your kid safe."