PHARR – The Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD is going above and beyond the state’s minimum requirements for reopening safety measures.
“The Texas Education Agency (TEA) sent us a shipment of PPE, which included thermometers, face shields and masks, but we wanted to go beyond that,” said Superintendent Jorge L. Arredondo. “We purchased additional items such as desk partitions, air purifiers and additional PPE for our students and staff.”
PSJA ISD budgeted an additional $1.3 million, to provide these additional safety measures.
“We also created disinfectant teams, and a safety compliance task force made up of district Athletic Trainers and PSJA Police Department staff to ensure everybody is abiding by the health and safety measures in place,” said PSJA Chief of Operations Hestroverto Martinez. “As a district, we also turned off all water fountains, and purchased water bottles for the students to minimize spreading.”
Although the district is still providing 100% virtual instruction, starting this week, schools were opened for students who had difficulties connecting or had other needs. The district has applied for a TEA extension to keep virtual instruction for four additional weeks, moving reopening to Nov. 30 if approved, as an additional measure. Parents who choose to keep their child in virtual instruction may do so for the rest of the year by making their selection at www.psjaisd.us/options.
“We consider ourselves the PSJA Family, and when you think about that, that could be our son, our daughter, our cousin. Because we believe that, we also want to make sure that we are putting all the measures we can in place, to keep everyone as safe as possible,” said Dr. Arredondo.
