Temple ISD Gets Approval for Remote Learning from TEA

According to KXXV, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has given the thumbs up for Temple IDS's remote instruction plan.

Mike Morath, Texas Education Agency commissioner, wrote via email to the Temple ISD:

“We appreciate the time and effort that you and your staff have put into developing a comprehensive plan to provide asynchronous remote instruction to meet the needs of your students and community.”

The TEA requires school districts to submit a plan by Oct. 1 in order to earn funding based on their average daily attendance for the coming school year.

Superintendent of Temple ISD, Dr. Bobby Ott, said:

“Our goal early on was to have both our in-person safety plan approved by the Bell County Health Authorities and our asynchronous remote learning plan approved by the Texas Education Agency prior to the first day of school. This provides confidence to our families and reduces disruptive changes to the child’s learning environment during the school year.”

Temple ISD’s curriculum and instruction department devolved the plan to which Dr. Bobby Ott had this to say:

“This latest approval of the asynchronous remote learning plan reflects a lot of hard work by the TISD curriculum department. I could not be more proud of the diligence and commitment of our staff. Families desire decisiveness, simplicity and consistency during these most complicated times.”

COVID-19 threw a huge monkey wrench into plans for the 2020-2021 school year, and students, parents, and teachers have faced unique challenges already. Over in Killeen, campuses are scheduled to begin in-person learning early due to a shortage of devices that would allow families to participate in remote learning.

Temple has resources available for remote learning, which were explained by TISD Chief of Communications and Community Relations Christine Parks in a recent Facebook video (embedded below).

We certainly wish all the students learning in person and online the best of luck this school years. It's going to be a bumpy ride.