Tomball Independent School District Home

Dear Tomball ISD Families,

 

As your proud Tomball ISD Superintendent of Schools, I want to once again thank our families for remaining flexible and adapting to new challenges during these uncertain times as we wrap up our first grading period of our Return to Excellence plan.

This start of the school year may have looked different, but I am confident in saying that while we may have been faced with some adversity, we have successfully continued to maintain high levels of learning along the way whether our students were on campus for face-to-face learning or receiving instruction through our Tomball Virtual School.

As promised, your family was able to make a learning environment change for the second grading period and based on our numbers, we are excited to return 15% more of our students to face-to-face learning during our final weeks of the fall semester.

For all, but those specifically returning to campus, we will continue to reiterate the importance of having proper protocols and procedures in place to provide a healthy, safe and secure, high-quality learning environment beginning next week. 

As you prepare for the start of the second grading period, please know that the District has seen less than 0.5% of its staff and students test positive for COVID, and we have been able to keep all of our campuses open up until this point. We want to remind all families that the use of face masks is an important factor in keeping our positivity rate low, and student and staff quarantines at a minimum. 

 

While there is much to celebrate in our low positivity rates for students and staff, as a community, we must stay vigilant in our adherence to mitigating strategies like daily screening of your child’s health, keeping your child home if sick, wearing a mask when at school and utilizing transportation services, social distancing, and frequent hand washing that have led us to our overall success in keeping students and staff safe and in school. 

 

With a return of 15% more of our students to face-to-face instruction beginning Monday, October 26, and the upcoming cold and flu season, Tomball ISD believes it would be extremely detrimental to the safety of our staff and students to change our health and safety practices at this time. 

While we understand there are some concerns with the use of face masks while at school, we, as a District, feel the protocol and guidance put in place is in the best interest of the entire Tomball ISD community.

For those that are preparing to return to campus Monday, Tomball ISD has added additional clarification on the use of face masks supported by executive orders and consulted guidance from federal and local health authorities. You can find more information on our Safety Protocol: Face Masks on TomballISD.net’s Return to Excellence landing page.

With the increased number of students returning to face-to-face instruction, TISD Transportation has also experienced an increase in bus transportation requests. While we are aiming to accommodate all families that submitted requests in a timely manner, please know that the Transportation Department is working diligently to fulfill those requests in order to provide bus route information for each family prior to Monday, Oct. 26. 

 

If you have not received an email from TISD Transportation with route information prior to Monday (October 26), we ask that you please make arrangements to take your child(ren) to school until you have been assigned and informed of a bus route. Also, we ask that you continue to remain patient with us as we are experiencing a shortage of bus drivers this school year which in turn may cause a few challenges and delays when picking up and dropping off our students. 

While every day brings new challenges in what we will consider our new normal, we are thriving in Tomball ISD and I am extremely impressed by our students and staff, whether it’s in a face-to-face environment or through our Tomball Virtual School, for adapting and embracing high-quality learning at all levels. We truly are continuing to meet our Destination Excellence standards, while maintaining a healthy and safe environment.

We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff will continue to be at the forefront of every decision we make. 

Wishing you all the very best as we begin the next grading period of our 2020-2021 school year,