San Marcos Consolidated ISD will implement three early release days in the next two months to deep clean its campuses.
The district made the announcement Tuesday, citing an “effort to continue SMCISD’s proactive approach to creating a safe and healthy learning environment for students and staff” as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. SMCISD will utilize these early release days, which will impact in-person learners, on Nov. 6, Nov. 20 and Dec. 11. Bonham and elementary campuses will release at 12 p.m., while the district’s secondary campuses will release at 1 p.m. on the scheduled early-release days.
During the early release days, SMCISD will transition to remote learning for the remainder of the day to allow students to complete any necessary assignments. The schedule for students who are learning remotely will remain the same but teachers will not be participating in live Zoom sessions in the afternoon, SMCISD said.
The school district will provide transportation following the early dismissals — 12 p.m. for elementary schools and 1 p.m. for secondary schools.
SMCISD will adjust its lunch schedules to ensure students are offered a meal before early dismissal. Curbside meals will be served from 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. on early release days. Additionally, SMCISD is consolidating its curbside locations beginning on Oct. 26 to San Marcos High School, Goodnight Middle School, Crockett Elementary School, Travis Elementary School and Hernandez Elementary School as more students return to in-person learning.
District staff members will be asked to leave by 4 p.m. on early release days to allow for its maintenance and custodial department to clean all areas of its campuses.
As San Marcos Consolidated ISD brought back students at roughly 50% capacity on Oct. 5, the district is reporting three total onsite coronavirus cases among students and two staff members. One active student case is at Mendez Elementary School and two are Goodnight Middle School, according to SMCISD’s COVID-19 dashboard. The two staff members with confirmed active cases are reported as non-campus staff members.
