The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has announced that parents will have the choice of sending their children back to school or not this year in their Comprehensive Guidelines for a Safe Return to On-Campus Instruction for the 2020-21 School Year. This comes at a time just weeks before the new school year is set to start amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, many parents are left torn and uncertain on whether they should send their kids back to school, given the fact that coronavirus cases are at an all time high in Texas.
While married couples will certainly need to come to a decision on whether to send their children back, how will this work for divorced parents? Which parent gets to decide? In short, it all comes down to what your divorce decree or court order says on how that child’s education will be decided.
With that being said, here’s what to know when deciding whether to send your kids back or not at the start of this school year.
What if I want to send my kids to school?
With the current orders in place, all schools and districts in Texas will need to offer on-campus learning options for parents who want to send their children to school.
Under this option, masks will be required inside of buildings per Governor Greg Abbott’s latest executive order for mandatory face masks in public. There are some exceptions to this, such as if the child is under 10 years old.
According to the TEA, all students, teachers, staff and visitors to campuses will have to be screened before they are able to go onto the campus. In the event a student shows symptoms of COVID-19, has contracted the virus, or has been exposed to someone who has the virus, parents will need to opt for remote instruction for their children until conditions for re-entry to on-campus learning are met.
What if I don’t want to send my kids back to school?
If a parent decides they don’t want their kids going back to school amid COVID-19, they have that option as well. At any point during the upcoming school year, if parents want to keep their children at home, they may have to commit to remote learning for an entire grading period of 6 to 9 weeks. This is according to officials of the TEA.
In addition, this commitment will not need to be made more than two weeks ahead of time. This is to allow choices of parents to be made based on the current status of public health.
In a quote, TEA officials wrote, ” If a parent who chooses virtual instruction wants their child to switch to an on-campus instructional setting, they can do so, but school systems are permitted to limit these transitions to occur only at the end of a grading period, if it will be beneficial to the student’s instructional quality…If a parent requests virtual instruction and the school does not offer it, the parent may enroll in another school that does offer it for transfer students.”
Divorced and concerned about the decision of your child’s return to school?
If you are a divorced parent concerned about who is able to make the decision of your child’s return to school or not, we encourage you to contact us. While this decision will likely be based upon what is stated in your divorce decree or child custody order, we can help evaluate all the options available to you and your child for this upcoming school year.
