Despite COVID-19 case surge, this Corpus Christi private school is opening its doors

Though confirmed cases of COVID-19 have skyrocketed since late June, one Corpus Christi private school is poised to restart in-person learning this month.

Yorktown Christian Academy, which serves 180 students in pre-K through high school, is set to open July 22. The school’s new year will begin a week after Nueces County reported a record 605 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. Corpus Christi has drawn national media attention for having one of the fastest-growing outbreaks in Texas.

Public school teachers and leaders have asked the state to postpone the start of school and prolong remote learning to prevent further spread of the virus. John Gilbert, administrator and principal of Yorktown Christian Academy, said he was prepared for a potential countywide order to delay opening schools. But in the meantime, he planned to stick to the July 22 start date.

During the city and county’s COVID-19 briefing on July 13, Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales said it was not the time for schools with year-round calendars to open for in-person instruction. Two of the area year-round school districts, Tuloso-Midway ISD and London ISD, had been scheduled to start their school year on July 12 and July 15, respectively. Administrators pushed back those start dates due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

“How could we possibly start in mid-July, if we are the No. 1 city-slash-county in the nation for COVID growth?” Canales said. “I mean, this is unrealistic.”

A July start date is typical for the school, Gilbert said, because the school uses a year-round calendar, with a weeklong break after every six-week grading period.

Gilbert said in early July that school leaders discussed delaying the start of school as COVID-19 cases grew, “but what it really comes down to is most people want their kids back in school.”

“Just delaying it a week or delaying it a month really doesn’t accomplish anything,” Gilbert said. “So you’re just going to have to bite the bullet and do the best you can.”

The school will offer what Gilbert called an “enhanced classroom” consisting of in-person learning and remote learning via Google Classroom for all students. That way, they can easily continue instruction if a student or an entire class has to quarantine, Gilbert said.

As of July 14, 20 students opted for solely distance learning, Gilbert said, and he expected the number to rise. He said less than 10% of students had withdrawn from the school.

“It just kind of hit them, the reality of it, this week,” Gilbert said in early July. “I started getting a lot of people saying, ‘OK, what are the alternatives?’ Some families, it’s a health issue, and so they don’t want to come on campus. Others, it’s just, ‘I’m not ready to turn my kids loose yet.’”

How Yorktown Christian Academy plans to keep students and staff safe

Though the Texas Education Agency does not have oversight of private schools, Yorktown is heeding the state’s health recommendations, including requiring teachers, staff, parents and visitors to self-screen before arriving to the campus every day and providing hand sanitizer at multiple locations.

The school initially planned to recommend but not require students and employees to wear face masks. An order from Gov. Greg Abbott requires people to wear masks when inside a commercial entity or a building open to the public, with some exceptions.

John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, told the Caller-Times the mask order applies to private schools. Gilbert said the school would plan accordingly.

Gilbert said the school plans to keep each class isolated as much as possible so that if someone is infected with the virus, a class could self-quarantine without forcing the entire school to close.

During recess, only one class will be allowed on the playground at a time. Church services will be scheduled to limit the number of people in the chapel — for example, by scheduling only one age group on a particular morning, Gilbert said. 

For lunchtime, teachers can choose to have their students eat in the classroom or take them to the school’s gym, which doubles as its cafeteria, if a schedule shows that only one or two other classes are in there.

The school usually rings in a new academic year with a schoolwide assembly, similar to a pep rally, but “we can’t do that this year,” Gilbert said. “We have to be careful about crossover between classes.

“It’s always scary walking into something like this because the future’s totally unknown,” Gilbert said. “But we’ve got to walk into it with the idea that we’re going to do the best we can to keep our students safe.”

Vicky Camarillo covers education, immigration and other issues in South Texas. See our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe.

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