Substitutes

Because the number of COVID-19 cases in our area continues to rise, the District has been advised by the Montgomery County Public Health District to postpone the start of traditional in-person instruction until at least September 8, 2020. Therefore, Conroe ISD has made the decision to begin the school year on August 12, 2020, with ALL students in remote/online instruction only. Traditional in-person instruction is scheduled to begin no earlier than September 8, 2020. We will continue to work with the Montgomery County Public Health District to evaluate when to make a safe return to campus-based instruction.

Currently, the District is planning to allow students who selected traditional in-person instruction to return to campuses on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Additionally, the District has developed a Ramp-Up Planpdf, which provides for gradually bringing students who selected in-person instruction to campuses for face-to-face instruction prior to September 8, 2020. Students who selected remote/online instruction will continue to learn from home.

During the time period of August 12, 2020, the first day of school for the 2020-21 school year, through September 4, 2020, please note the following:

• All students will start school on August 12, 2020, in remote/online instruction only.
• Beginning August 17, 2020, identified groups of students will gradually return to campus for in-person instruction. Substitutes will be contacted directly by campuses to fill daily, short-term absences for staff who are providing face-to-face instruction and are in need of substitutes.
• Substitutes will not be utilized for daily, short-term absences of staff who are providing remote/online instruction only.
• If you were scheduled to fill a long-term substitute assignment during this time period, the campus will communicate directly with you regarding the assignment.

Once traditional in-person instruction resumes, the District will have staff members who are assigned to provide traditional in-person instruction only, some who are assigned to provide remote/online instruction only, and some who are assigned to provide a combination of both traditional in-person and remote/online instruction.

• Absences of staff members who are assigned to provide traditional in-person instruction only:

Substitutes will be utilized to fill both short-term and long-term absences.

• Absences of staff members who are assigned to provide remote/online instruction only:

Substitutes will not be utilized to fill short-term absences. Substitutes will be used for long-term absences. Long-term substitutes will be pre-arranged by the campus, and all access and tools needed to provide remote/online instruction in the absence of the staff member will be provided.

• Absences of staff members who are assigned to provide a combination of both traditional in-person and remote/online instruction

Substitutes may be utilized to fill both short-term and long-term absences; however, the substitute will be re-assigned to help in other areas of the campus during the staff member’s assigned remote/online instruction time.

The fundamentals of the strategies implemented to keep students and staff safe include:

Prescreening: Staff members should not come to work if they are sick or exhibiting symptoms related to COVID-19 or if someone in the household has symptoms. They should complete the self-check-in daily upon arrival to work.

Hygiene: Hand sanitizer will be available upon entering the facility and placed appropriately throughout work areas. Food sharing will be prohibited. Staff will teach and reinforce hand-washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Mask/Face Covering: Staff members must wear face coverings while working near others or in common spaces. Individuals should not touch face coverings, and they must wash their hands frequently. Information regarding the proper use, removal, and washing of cloth face coverings will be provided.

Distance: Expectations are in place for a work environment that allows for safe physical separation. Individuals should not be within 6 feet of one another for longer than 15 minutes.

Limit Number of People and/or Time in a Space (and Know Who Was There): Campuses will limit the length of time of physical interaction and the number of people in the same area. Those who are in the same area will be recorded (daily check-in). When it is necessary for people to be in the same area, adequate space will be provided for social distancing. Physical barriers will be installed when practical. Physical guides, such as floor tape, will be used to guide social distancing.

Clean and Disinfect: Staff will regularly wipe down shared equipment and common hardware. When safe and appropriate, interior doors that are frequently used, such as work rooms, will be propped open, limiting the necessity to touch door knobs/handles. The District will e-mist daily. Custodial staff will be available in the event that special cleaning needs to take place.

Among other mitigating strategies, which you can find on the Roadmap to Reopening website, below is a list of some of the strategies put into place by Conroe ISD to minimize exposure to COVID-19 and to keep students and staff safe.

• Each campus has a designated “Wellness Manager”, whose role is to coordinate and oversee COVID-19 mitigation and response efforts. These staff members attend updates and trainings and are a resource for any type of District employee who has concerns or questions about mitigating COVID-19.
• All occupied campuses and departments will be e-misted or fogged daily.
• Disinfectant spray bottles have been provided for every classroom and will be refilled nightly by custodians.
• Hand sanitizer has been provided for every classroom.
• Hand sanitizing stations have been positioned at key points throughout all campuses and buildings.
• Hand sanitizer stations have been added on buses, along with specific plans for student entrance and egress to minimize contact.
• Bus windows will be kept down and the air conditioners will be kept on while students and staff are on board.
• The District will provide a large number of desk-based sneeze guards.
• All employees have been directed to wear face coverings.
• Students in third grade and up are required to wear face coverings, and students in second grade and below are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings.
• The District has supplied face shields and face masks.
• The District will increase the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating of building HVAC filters.
• All staff are required to complete the COVID-19 check-in every day upon reporting to work to ensure that all health and safety guidelines for entering Conroe ISD facilities are met, including health screening questions and questions related to others who might be exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.
• Campuses are closed to visitors with the exception of those needing to conduct essential school business. Those visitors who enter District buildings must complete the health screener, wear a face mask, and observe campus safety protocols.
• Parents will be required to complete a weekly COVID-19 screener for students to verify that students meet all health and safety guidelines for entering Conroe ISD campuses.
• Touchless water fountains have been added to each campus.
• Special student identification badges have been provided to students for touchless purchases of food.
• Car Rider app has been created and implemented, which allows for a queue-based system of pick-up so that students remain in classrooms, minimizing student congregation at building exits.
• Bus Hub has been adapted and implemented, which allows bus riders to remain in classrooms until their bus is ready for student loading, minimizing student congregation at building exits.
• Staff development and meetings are conducted remotely to the maximum extent possible.

In addition to the standard expectations of substitutes, which you can find in the Substitute Handbookpdf located online, you will be required to adhere to the following precautions when filling a substitute job in light of COVID-19:

Self-Screen Prior to Entering a District Facility

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, please do not enter District facilities. Instead, please notify the campus by phone that you are unable to work that day. The Substitute Office will follow up with you.

1. Do you currently have a temperature at or above 100.0 F, or any of the following symptoms that are not normal for you?

• • Loss of taste or smell
  • Sore throat
  • Fatigue
  • Chills or shaking with chills
  • Significant muscle pain or body aches
  • A new uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing or for individuals with a chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in your cough from baseline
  • Diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain
  • New onset of severe headache
  • Known close contact with a person who is lab confirmed to have COVID-19 in the previous 14 days

2. Are you waiting for COVID-19 test results due to symptoms that began less than 10 days ago?

Upon entering the District facility, a staff member will assist you to check-in and will conduct the “touchless visitor sign-in”, in which the staff member will ask you the questions noted above to ensure that you are able to be at work in a Conroe ISD facility that day.

Be sure you arrive to the campus early enough to provide extra time to complete these new steps.

Mitigation Strategies Required of All Conroe ISD Employees

To ensure the health and safety of all students and staff, and in accordance with recommendations and guidelines from the Texas Education Agency, please adhere to the following mitigation strategies:

• • Stay home when ill.
  • Allow a staff member to complete the “touchless visitor sign-in” with you when entering any District facility.
  • Wear a face covering/mask appropriate for work when entering and exiting District facilities, in common areas, and when interacting with others when 6 feet distance cannot be maintained.
  • Use hand sanitizer when entering District facilities.
  • Wash/sanitize hands frequently.
  • Maintain a physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when at all possible. In rare situations when physical distancing is difficult to maintain, limit interactions to less than 15 minutes while wearing a face covering/mask.

During the Work Day

If during the work day you begin to show symptoms related to COVID-19, as listed above and addressed during the “touchless visitor sign-in”, please notify a campus administrator immediately. You will be required to leave campus right away. The Human Resources Department or Conroe ISD Health Services will follow up with you.

Wearing a Face Covering

Until further notice, you must properly wear a non-medical grade disposable face mask or cloth face mask/cloth face covering, appropriate for the workplace, that covers the nose and mouth any time you are performing work related duties inside or outside Conroe ISD facilities and may come within 6 feet of another person.

There may be limited exceptions to the mask requirement depending on one’s medical condition. For exceptions due to a medical condition, you must provide a written medical exemption from a physician to the Human Resources Department at HRCOVID19@conroeisd.net. Employees who are unable to wear a face mask for medical reasons may be required to wear a face shield. However, full face shields may not be worn in place of a mask without prior approval of a medical exemption from HR.

Please refer to the Roadmap to Reopening pages on the Conroe ISD website for the most up-to-date information, including Employee Information, Health Guidance & Considerations, and Frequently Asked Questions. The site is updated regularly as the District receives guidance from the Texas Education Agency, the Governor’s Office, and state and local officials. If you have questions related to COVID-19 that you cannot answer from the information on the Roadmap to Reopening website, please email HRCOVID19@conroeisd.net.

All information on the Roadmap to Reopening website supersedes any information summarized on this page.