The firing of dual language kindergarten teacher Rachell Tucker took place after she had advocated for increased safety measures and the halting of in-person learning at her school amid the pandemic.
Editorial: Want more Texans back at work? Help them get child care
Chuck Cohn sees both ends of the problem at his South Austin child care center. Parents need to line up child care so they can get back to work, but that care is getting harder to find. About 1 in 8 licensed child care centers in Austin closed temporarily or permanently because of the pandemic, along with nearly a quarter of home-based child care providers, according to data compiled by the Success By 6 initiative for the United Way for Greater Austin. Cohnâs waiting list at Angelâs Care and Learning Center is 10 kids and growing.
When Holliday ISD made masks optional May 10, the difference was obvious.
Smiling faces were everywhere the first day back at school without a mask requirement. School was fun that day. Everybody was able to just read facial expressions again, HISD Sjuperintendent Cody Carroll said. I think that’s a huge part of social interaction, kind of what we’re wired to do as humans.
The district was already planning a return to full normal for the 2021-2022 academic year. Then Gov. Greg Abbott s executive order Tuesday cinched it.
Abbott s order banned mask requirements in public schools, effective after June 4.
“Especially in our area, the cases are way down, and we just felt like the time was right to move forward with letting the kids get back to normal, Carroll said.