Dear Families,

We are excited to welcome you to a new school year! We have many plans for an amazing year, and part of our commitment is ensuring the safety and comfort of our students in all conditions, including the extreme Texas weather. To keep you informed, we are sharing our operating procedures for such events.

Early Morning Checks:
Beginning with the first day of school on Tuesday, Aug. 13, our campus custodians are reporting to work at 5 a.m. to check room temperatures. This early start ensures that any potential temperature issues are identified and addressed before students and staff arrive for the school day. In the event that temperatures fall outside of a normal range, school administration will take immediate action.  According to Texas Administrative Code, the room temperature for a typical occupied office or classroom environment should be kept between 72 to 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.

Addressing Temperature Issues:
There are three main solutions for addressing temperature issues:

• Deploying Portable Air Conditioning Units: In cases where room temperatures are too high or too low, portable air conditioning units will be deployed to the affected room(s) to quickly bring the temperature back to a comfortable level.
 
• Relocating Students Within Campus: If portable air conditioning units are insufficient or unavailable, students will be moved to more comfortable instructional spaces. These spaces may include other classroom(s) within the school that have suitable temperatures or common areas like the library. This ensures that learning can continue without interruption in a comfortable environment.
 
• Relocating Students to Another Campus: Only in extreme cases, and as a last resort, we may decide to transport students to another location where they will receive instruction and meals in a cooler environment. The District is ready to receive students at another designated campus if needed. You will be notified prior to any transportation of your child, and you will have the option to pick up your child instead, if you prefer. We will also notify you at this time whether we will be able to hold the afterschool program on that day. We encourage all families to ensure they have opted in to campus and district notifications in Avela in order to receive these messages. Your campus principals and staff will communicate with you to update you on the school status.

For families who decide to pick up their children, students will be placed in a cooled school bus with WiFi, so that they can be engaged in reading or other instruction while they wait for pick up. Students who are transported to another location will be returned to their home campus by regular dismissal time. Bus riders will be transported home as usual, and non-bus riders also will follow their regular dismissal procedures from the home campus.

Our Commitment:
We want you to know that while your children are in our care, they will be receiving instruction and kept safe and comfortable. We recognize that parents and guardians cannot easily take off work or find childcare when schools close unexpectedly. Therefore, our goal is to keep our schools open so that our students continue their learning.

Long-Term Solutions:
We assure you we are working diligently to ensure that our cooling and heating systems are operational in all learning spaces for this school year. We also are planning long-term solutions through future bond projects so we can fully bring our facilities up to current industry standards. We project that this will require about $575 million, and we are beginning this planning process. Most importantly, we are committed to working with our entire community to find solutions to support our students.

If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s campus. We greatly appreciate your understanding and support.

In service,
Jaime Aquino, Ph.D.
Superintendent