As more students return to campus in Corpus Christi, some teachers concerned about safety

With the start of a new grading period in Corpus Christi ISD on Monday, more students opted to return to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In September, 30% of students chose in-person instruction. Now 46% are returning, district spokeswoman Leanne Libby said.

The Texas Education Agency is requiring school districts to offer in-person instruction to all students who want it. But a greater number of students in the classroom has some teachers concerned about health and safety on campus while COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing across the country. 

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“The parents are realizing that it’s too hard to do this at home,” said Norma Guerra, a fifth-grade teacher at Calk-Wilson Elementary.

As of Monday, Guerra has three classes with up to 23 students in each group. That means she will be in contact with almost 70 kids every day — elementary-age kids who frequently remove their face masks and forget to keep distance, she said.

She had 10 students in her classroom during the previous six-week period, and even then, social distancing was hard, she said. 

The kids have desk shields, but the desks are not 6 feet apart, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said. And teachers are expected to “actively monitor” students by walking up and down the aisles, she said.

Compounding the issue, Guerra said, is that Calk-Wilson is among the elementary and middle schools across the district shifting to a new teaching model. To improve instruction for both teachers and students, some teachers are assigned to teach classes composed entirely of remote learners while other teachers have classes with all in-person students. 

Guerra was assigned to teach all in-person classes. She’s 54 and has diabetes, which puts her at greater risk of contracting the virus.

Teachers were not asked for input to decide which role they would take, Guerra and other Calk-Wilson teachers said.

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“That’s why I was like, I’m afraid,” Guerra said. She added that she is not sending her own child, a CCISD student, back to campus. “In the classrooms, you can’t social distance. It’s too many kids in a room.”

Guerra said if she were given the option, she would choose to teach all remote students — even though remote teaching is more difficult. Remote students often don’t turn in assignments, even when she reaches out to them directly, she said. And, she added, some students turn off their cameras during Zoom sessions and presumably walk away from their computers.

Monica Jimenez, a bilingual kindergarten teacher at Calk-Wilson, said she believes the best option for the district is to revert to all remote instruction.

She’s continuing to teach “hybrid” classes consisting of both in-person and remote students. Recently, she said, students have shown symptoms such as fever or a sore throat. Those students are immediately sent home, and their classrooms are evacuated so custodians can sanitize them, Jimenez said.

“That’s going on daily,” she said. “On our campus, I know that’s happening. … You know because (the custodian’s) little cart goes down the hall. You hear it and you know that a room is about to get disinfected.”

Nancy Vera, the president of the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers, shared with the Caller-Times an email she sent to district leaders about COVID-related concerns, including the increase in students on campus and a lack of desk shields in some classrooms.

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Superintendent Roland Hernandez replied that he would follow up with staff about those concerns, and wrote: “I definitely do not support having that many students in a classroom and will make sure that our procedures are reviewed and reinforced.”

But CDC guidelines call for the use of physical barriers, mask wearing and hand washing in situations where people can’t keep 6 feet of distance, Libby, the district spokeswoman, said in an email. She added that the hybrid model used at five of the district’s six high schools reduces the number of students on campus.

But teachers are afraid, Jimenez said.

“They want us to be normal, but we’re not in a normal setting,” she said. “However you look at it, it’s not normal.”

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