Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

North Texas Districts Extend Long Weekend Amid COVID, Staff Shortages

  • By Matt Jones
  • 01/21/22

Several North Texas school districts cancelled school on both ends of the long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, citing staff shortages and a surge in COVID-19 cases. School leaders are hoping the time off will allow students and teachers who have recently tested positive to safely quarantine and recover, according to local news reports.

Mansfield Independent School District and Northwest Independent School District, both in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, have announced that all their campuses will be closed through Tuesday, Jan. 18. The nearby Mesquite and White Settlement districts will be closed through Wednesday, Jan. 19.

According to The Dallas Morning News, more than 15% of the Mesquite ISD staff has been absent. “The strain of covering classes in the midst of a severe substitute shortage has taken a tremendous toll on our staff members who are able to report to work, but our ability to safely monitor students in our care is quickly becoming unmanageable,” said district officials on the Mesquite ISD website.

Likewise, White Settlement ISD Superintendent Frank Molinar recently wrote a letter to families explaining that more than 150 district staff members out of a total of 825 have been out due to COVID-19 exposure, illness or because their own children’s day cares have closed. “All available personnel are being utilized to cover classes and staff who are out; however, the rising staff absentee rates are making this increasingly difficult to provide adequate staffing,” wrote Molinar.

Several other nearby districts—including Argyle ISD, Boyd ISD, Red Oak ISD, Kemp ISD and Pilot Point ISD, among others—also cancelled classes last Friday, Jan. 14.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning and Campus Security and Life Safety. He can be reached at [email protected]

Featured

  • Preparing for the Next Era of Healthcare Education, Innovation

    Across the country, public universities and community colleges are accelerating investments in healthcare education facilities as part of a broader strategy to address workforce shortages, modernize outdated infrastructure, and expand clinical training capacity. These projects, which are often located at the center of campus health and science districts, are no longer limited to traditional classrooms.

  • Niles West High School Natatorium Renovation

    Natatoriums are highly specialized spaces, and luminaires in this setting face several unique challenges. Perhaps the most significant is corrosion, which is exacerbated by high indoor humidity, condensation, and pool chemicals, often resulting in material degradation in luminaires not certified to perform in corrosive environments.

  • abstract representation of hybrid learning environment

    The Permanence of Change: Why Hybrid Is the New Baseline

    Hybrid learning is here to stay, and it's reshaping how campus spaces function.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.