Katy ISD School Board Approves 5 Stages for District COVID Action

KATY MAGAZINE NEWS

August 31, 2021

By Natalie Cook Clark

How is Katy ISD addressing parent and community concerns of rising COVID numbers? The Board of Trustees approved a 5-stage plan on how the District will address COVID cases at both the individual schools and on a District-wide level.

Katy ISD Board of Trustees met Monday to discuss their response to COVID-19.

COVID-19 Cases on the Rise

As of now Katy ISD’s COVID Dashboard reports that the District has 765 (654 students, 111 staff) active COVID cases. While this is still a small percentage of their over 87,000 students, it is an 80% increase of cases since school started on August 18.

School Board Calls Special Meeting

Last night, the Katy ISD Board of Trustees held a Special Board Meeting to present their latest COVID mitigation plan and to continue to address the public concerns of the pandemic as the Delta variant results in a rise of positive cases. They later approved the proposed plan.

WATCH A VIDEO OF THE AUGUST 30th MEETING

The District outlined their 5-stage plan on how they will address COVID virus cases, if they continue to rise.

Graphic courtesy: KISD

Most Katy Schools are at Stage 4

The vast majority of Katy schools are currently listed at the stage 4 level. Last year three schools were forced to temporarily close due to COVID cases. The board stressed that they hope this doesn’t happen this year, but they are prepared for the worst.

40 people signed up to speak including a large number of those in the medical community. Arguments were presenting on both sides of the pro-mask/anti-mask debate. Parents continue to comment on both sides via social media in a topic that has become very heated.

FREE Testing

Katy ISD is offering free COVID rapid testing Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Katy ISD Agricultural Sciences Center

Gary A. Voss Project Center

5801 Katy Hockley Cut-Off Road

Katy, TX 77493

Reservations are required and can be scheduled online.

Around 300 students are tested a day and since the testing began the week of August 23, all spots have been filled.

Continue to follow the numbers of self-reported District-wide COVID cases, as well as the breakdown of numbers at individual schools, at the District’s COVID-19 Dashboard.

See the latest Katy ISD policies and recommendations at the Safe Return to School Plan, which was last modified on August 25.