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Dear STISD Family,

For the health and safety of students and staff amid the current COVID-19 conditions, South Texas Independent School District (STISD) will begin the 2020-2021 school year on Monday, August 17, delivering solely virtual instruction through the district’s Flexible Learning Initiative.

All six of our campuses used this method to provide instruction during the school closures in the spring, and the district has continued developing the initiative designed to deliver high-quality instruction to students from a distance. Additional professional development focused on virtual instruction is scheduled for administrators and faculty and staff leading up to the beginning of the school year.

As per the order issued by Dr. Ivan Melendez, Hidalgo County Local Health Authority, stipulating all public and private schools, from grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12, remain closed for in-campus instruction until after September 27, STISD will provide all instruction online during that time frame, pending any updates made by local authorities.

Prior to the order, STISD developed plans to offer three different instructional methods for students and parents to select from, including traditional (in-person), blended (combination of in-person and at home), and virtual (completely at home). Families could select the method that worked best for the individual family. The district will continue building out each of these methods to allow for possible transitioning to occur during the year.

On behalf of our administration and board of directors, I thank you for your support and for all that you and your family are doing to assist with our battle against COVID-19. Please know that the health and safety of our district community continues to be front and center in all that we do.

We will be in touch soon with additional details in regards to plans for the upcoming school year. Until then, I hope you and yours stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Marco Antonio Lara, Jr., Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools