The Frisco ISD board has given Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip additional authority during these unprecedented times. Meeting on April 1 via a video conference, the board discussed these vastly new conditions and what measures to take to best help students and accommodate staff.

The board gave Waldrip certain responsibilities that were previously in the hands of the board itself.

These added roles include making all decisions regarding the payment of employees during the closure, alter the 2019-2020 school calendar, create guidelines, and make determinations for absences, leave time and leave days, seek necessary waivers from the Texas Education Agency and submit waivers to authorities.

“Any action I take in these areas will be immediately communicated to our Board of Trustees,” Waldrip said. “Once this crisis is resolved, this authority will return to the Board of Trustees. With our new eLearning plan in place, we can respond to a prolonged closure if the decision is made to do so. We are hopeful that we can return to school before the school-year is out, but that remains to be seen.”

In the past weeks, the district has also taken the extra precautions by disinfecting all campuses.

“While we were out for spring break, all of our campuses were disinfected at least twice,” Executive Director of Support Services Clarence Williams said in a story by Community Impact. “With some of our campuses going through it three times.”

With schools remaining closed until May 4 as ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott, the district is also exploring how to conduct graduation for the class of 2020.

“Obviously, the big thing on our mind is graduation and thinking through what that could be,” Chief Student Services Officer Erin Miller said in a story by Community Impact.