Dear Katherine Anne Porter School Family,
As a school which serves a much broader area than most (7 counties), we believe it is in the best interest of our students and our staff to close Katherine Anne Porter School March 23rd through April 5th, including weekend activities.
The concern has extended beyond the school realm. The dangers of indirectly affecting family members with the possibility of students contracting Covid-19 (Coronavirus) on campus and unknowingly taking it home where the danger may be more significant is a real concern. In short, while wishing to protect our students and staff, we want to be proactive in helping protect loved ones at home and the community as well. Experts have highlighted the fact that school closures historically minimized the spread of flu in communities, and their thinking is that this action will help in the current crisis of Coronavirus as well.
Concerning other issues:
Child Nutrition: Katherine Anne Porter will continue to provide food services to students on free and reduced lunch plans. Information and details on how meals will be distributed will be shared no later than March 25th.
Education:
We are working on ways to provide continued education online to our students. Those students already taking courses on Edgenuity will be able to continue. For those who are not using Edgenuity, we have been in the process of researching resources enabling us to continue education for our students. We will find the best, most user friendly resource and share the information and instructions no later than March 25th.
All correspondence will be done through Bright Arrow, our webpage and our Facebook. As more planning occurs, we will communicate that to each of you as well.
Mike Morath, the Texas Commissioner of Education, holds daily conference calls with all superintendents in Texas. The communication from him and his team at TEA has been amazing and very helpful. I will continue to attend these and maintain contact with other officials to keep abreast of the situation as we continue to make decisions in the best interest of all.
Please keep watching for any messages coming from KAPS during this time of closure.
Just in case you may have missed my previous letter, here again are some helpful links on the latest on COVID-19:
Reported cases:
Local Health Department contact information:
Sincerely,
