Several parents were outside the FISD administration building before Monday’s school board meeting protesting the district’s decision to delay the start of face to face school until Sept. 3. 

“Frisco ISD is making some adjustments to plans for the 2020-21 school year based on the rapidly changing situation with COVID-19 and information from the Texas Education Agency and state-level elected officials,” FISD wrote in a letter to parents in early July. “In order to provide additional time for staff training, the development of master schedules, and ensure the safest possible environment for students when they return to campus, Frisco ISD has made the decision to start the 2020-21 school year in a completely virtual environment for all students.”

This decision was met with pushback from some Frisco ISD parents whom had organized together in rallies on July 16 and again on Monday night. 

“I have four students, and at this point, I know that there’s no way to change it but I do wish students were able to start in-person from the first day,” FISD parent Becky Odom said. “I’m very lucky that I can accommodate my children from home but many parents can’t, and their needs should be considered. I’m also very concerned about student’s mental health and abuse that might be going on at home that teachers now will not be able to notice.”

Along with students’ mental health, concerns about students with special needs and households with two working parents/guardians were brought up at the school board meeting following the rally. 

“Special education parents, working parents, and essential parents have been put in the position to pay for education, even after we pay our high taxes for premium education here in Frisco ISD,” FISD parent Alicia Dewar said to the school board. “I want to remind everybody that it is the jobs that make this city grow and flourish, therefore assuming that we as parents can provide supervision and direction during e-Learning while doing our jobs is a bad assumption.”

Whatever happens during the school year concerning COVID-19, Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Waldrip believes teachers will be properly trained in virtual teaching.

“We’ve been training, and we are continuing to train our teachers on effective teaching strategies in the virtual environment,” Waldrip said in a Star Local Media article. “So we feel very confident that when our teachers, all of our teachers, when they do have to move to that environment, whether they’ve been in-person or whether they’ve been virtual the whole time, that it will be a smooth transition to go from in-person to virtual and then back from virtual to in-person when they’re allowed to come back to school.”