Many Texas Education Agency employees are working from home, but the agency is requiring schools to open five days a week for in-person instruction this fall. Teachers say that mandate has grave implications for their health.
Aliyya Swaby
Aliyya Swaby was the public education reporter for The Texas Tribune, where she worked from 2016 to 2021. Previously she worked at the hyperlocal nonprofit New Haven Independent, where she covered education, zoning and transit for two years. After graduating from Yale University in 2013, she spent a year freelance reporting in Panama on social issues affecting black Panamanian communities. She was an Education Writers Association finalist in 2017 for beat reporting and a Livingston Awards finalist in 2019 for a series on school desegregation.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas parents face a frightening lack of information on coronavirus risks in child care centers
State health officials are providing little detailed information on the spread of coronavirus in Texas child care facilities, and experts aren’t sure to what extent children spread the virus.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Masks will be mandatory in many Texas schools when they reopen this fall, education agency says
The mask requirement doesn’t apply to students younger than 10. The Texas Education Agency guidelines also require schools to post coronavirus prevention plans and encourage hand-washing.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Warning of “COVID slide,” Texas Education Agency reports 1 in 10 students have disengaged during the pandemic
A new statewide report from the TEA shows that more than 600,000 students didn’t complete assignments or respond to teacher outreach during the pandemic.
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Public Education
Texans urge state education board to expand sexual education standards and include LGBTQ information
More than 200 signed up to speak as the Texas State Board of Education began taking public testimony Monday on its first rewrite of sexual education policies since 1997.
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Public Education
Texas education officials consider changing state’s sex education policy for first time in 23 years
A high-tension hearing is expected Monday as the Texas State Board of Education begins considering changes to its statewide policy for health education, including teaching middle schoolers about contraception.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas reinstates coronavirus safety rules for child care centers as cases mount
Emergency safety measures for day care centers were repealed in mid-June, but are being brought back in the face of “imminent peril.”
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas delays health guidelines for reopening schools this fall. Draft documents show few mandatory safety measures.
Texas education officials delayed an expected announcement of school reopening guidelines Tuesday, but a draft plan shows the state taking a light-handed role in coronavirus prevention measures. Masks and distancing are recommended but not mandatory.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas schools will reopen in the fall, but no one knows exactly how that will work
State officials announced yesterday that students will return to public schools come fall, but provided few details. Almost three-fourths of parents surveyed in one district say they won’t send their children back if it seems unsafe.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Coronavirus cases are increasing at Texas child care centers, but the state repealed safety rules
Parents face agonizing decisions as the state leaves it up to child care operators to decide what coronavirus safety precautions they wish to continue.