It’s a great day to be a DILLO! About two months ago, someone hacked our internet service. Because our service provider is the Region 15 Educational Service Center in San Angelo, the hack we experienced was felt by 30 other school districts. The particular kind of hack was called a disruption of service. It does not do any physical damage to the system. It just ruins everyone’s day for a few hours.
It is often times impossible to find out who started the chain of events. We just know the impact was felt by more than just us. The COVID pandemic is much more than a disruption of service to our daily lives, and its impact can affect many people. It is very difficult to identify where it originated, but our lives are disrupted by it.
Opinions are very divided and run at opposite ends of the continuum. Some people may say we are sentencing their elderly parents to death. And others think it is a conspiracy theory, and it does not exist. Texas has seen a spike in COVID cases the last few weeks. Halloween was more of a trick than a treat, and we tend to see spikes after large social gatherings. San Saba is not immune to what is happening in the state as well as many of our neighboring school districts.
So what is San Saba ISD going to do? We are remaining calm, and we are avoiding any knee jerk reactions. We are communicating our numbers with our county health officials and have set forth a threshold. When we reach that threshold, we will consider a partial shutdown depending on the severity.
What about UIL, band and athletics? As of right now, we have not reached that threshold, and we are trying to do what is best for San Saba residents. Several parents have mentioned to me that our decisions are about saving lives. A friend from New Mexico shared with me that their schools are still not open and no athletics. Fifteen student athletes have taken their own lives as a result. Numerous other students throughout Texas have done the same. Child Protective Services are reporting an all-time low in abuse cases, and hospitals are reporting all-time highs in suspicious childhood injuries.
We may or may not save lives by shutting down the school because most of the cases we are experiencing are due to what students or their parents do after school hours. We are danged if we do and danged if we don’t. My responsibility is first to do what is right by our students and staff. Our community must do what they feel is right to take care of their family, and we respect your decisions.
I will be gone this Saturday for my Uncle's funeral. He did not die because of COVID, but it was almost impossible for family members to say their goodbyes. Not only did he lose his life, but he lost the quality of life at the end. We can work so hard to save something, then we end up losing something just as important in the end. In San Saba ISD, the number
In San Saba ISD, the number of positive cases is relatively small. But because of close contact guidelines, many are forced to quarantine, so the numbers look inflated. It is also difficult to keep up with because when someone tests positive, we have students who return from quarantine. So the numbers stay the about the same.
If you have managed to read all the way down this page, I want to share something very exciting. We have already sent out parent-square and email notifications. SSISD is an approved rapid COVID testing site. We can only test students and staff, and we have a limited number of free tests. This is not a mandatory test. We are not doctors, and we are not telling anybody they must be tested. If you are a parent, and your child is showing symptoms, and you feel the need to get them tested, you can go to your local physician or use our testing facility if you meet the requirements. People's opinions regarding this may be all over the place. To the parents who are taking off work and spending hundreds of dollars and waiting days to find out about the health of their children, we hope that this will reduce the disruption to your life. Having these tests available at SSISD will allow us to monitor and react faster to any outbreaks we may experience. It is a good thing for San Saba, and all the information is on our webpage. Just click the COVID TESTING button on the home screen. Our motto at San Saba ISD is that “Attitude is a Choice.” You can be disparaged, or you can trust that we are trying to make good decisions that benefit as many people as possible. Go Dillos!