In-Person Learning

2020-21 School Term

Mansfield ISD plans to offer in-person classes, five days a week at all MISD campuses. In-person classes will include additional health and safety precautions in alignment with local health protocols.

Under the current order, all students will begin school on Wednesday, Aug. 12 remotely. Families who register for in-person learning will begin attending in-person classes at their campus on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

We strongly believe that face-to-face learning and connection is most beneficial for the vast majority of our students. While keeping this in mind, the safety and well-being of our students, families and staff will continue to remain Mansfield ISD’s top priority.

Starting May 28, the following safety and health protocols will be in effect for the remainder of the 2020-21 school term.

Safety and Health Protocols

Locally and within MISD, there has been a steady and significant decline in the number of COVID-19 cases. In addition, COVID-19 vaccines have become more widely accessible for those who are interested.

With those factors in mind, the MISD School Board has made the decision to update the district's current safety and health protocols. Starting May 28, 2021, the following guidelines will be in place:

• Face coverings will be optional for students, staff and visitors.
• Students and staff members will be encouraged to remain home when sick. Daily self-screening at home by students and staff will continue to take place. The following symptoms are common ailments to look for before deciding to come to school:
  • New onset of severe headache (especially with a fever)
  • Abnormal taste and/or smell
  • Abdominal pain
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • New uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing (for students with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from baseline)
  • Sore throat
  • Temperature 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher when taken by mouth
• Parents and staff will be required to report confirmed positive communicable disease cases, including COVID, to campus administration or their supervisor.
  • Please note that per Tarrant County Public Health, staff and students with a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be required to isolate at home for 10 days from the date of symptom onset or from the date of a positive test if no symptoms are present.
• Bottle filling stations will be available at campuses. Students and staff may bring refillable water bottles with them to campus.
• Efforts to increase hand washing and hand sanitizing will remain in effect.
• Restrooms, handrails and other common areas will continue to be cleaned regularly.

COVID-19 Case Protocols

Mansfield ISD will immediately separate any student who shows COVID-19 symptoms and remove that student from the classroom. Remaining students will be relocated to a safe area with the teacher while the room is cleaned and the school nurse contacts Health Services.

MISD follows the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) definition of close contact, “any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.” MISD Health Services evaluation of close contacts to students/staff with laboratory-confirmed or probable COVID-19 may vary depending on the exposure setting. Contacts in special populations and/or congregate settings require additional considerations.

COVID-19 Response Rubric    COVID-19 Cases

Campus Procedures for Confirmed and/or Suspected Cases
When a student or staff member has displayed symptoms of COVID-19, the school nurse will provide a clinical assessment to determine if and when a student needs to be sent home.

• Students who are ill will be immediately separated from their peers and should be picked up within 30 minutes (no later than 1 hour) from the time the campus contacts the student's parent/guardian. A room on each campus, outside of the school clinic, will be dedicated for ill students or staff members who need to be isolated while waiting to be picked up by a family member.
   
• Other students will be removed from the classroom and taken to an alternate location on campus so that the classroom can be disinfected.
   
• Each MISD facility has a designated COVID-19 building coordinator, all employees are expected to report COVID illness/exposure (symptoms, known-exposure, and/or positive case) to their supervisor and building coordinator.
   
  • When a known exposure or confirmed case occurs, the employee or building coordinator completes a COVID reporting form, which includes identifying all individuals who may have been in close contact with the confirmed case for two days prior to symptoms.
     
  • When a positive case has been confirmed, close contacts are notified of possible exposure by MISD Health Services and further isolation/quarantine instructions are provided.
     
  • All students/staff on the facility/campus will be notified of a positive case on a campus or facility; however, only those who are considered to have been in close contact will be required to isolate or quarantine unless the student/staff member qualifies for a listed quarantine waiver.
     

• Consistent for other communicable diseases and legal requirements, schools must notify all teachers, staff, and families of all students and/or staff in a district facility for a lab-confirmed positive case.

  • District communication will be provided to all parents and staff of a campus who came in contact with a COVID-19 positive student or staff at a campus.
     

  • District communication will be provided to all staff members who came in contact with a COVID-19 positive staff member at a non-campus building.
     

  • Notification must follow confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The district must notify its local health department, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
     

• With the guidance provided by Tarrant County Public Health, the district has created guidelines for procedures when a campus or facility has multiple active cases or increased impact of COVID-19 on their campus.

Quarantine Waivers
Students and staff can waive a quarantine from close contact if they have documented proof of being COVID-19 positive within the last 90 days. They can also waive a quarantine if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 14 days have passed since receiving the final vaccine dosage, and if they are within 90 days of completing the vaccine series. (Beginning April 19, students and staff members who are consistently and properly masked while being exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 will not have to quarantine.)

Quarantine Time Periods
Effective March 8, 2021, the quarantine time for an exposed individual will be 10 days if he/she has not developed any symptoms during that period. Upon return to district facilities, the quarantined individual must be monitored daily for symptoms and be properly and consistently masked, regardless of grade level (Grades PK-12), for days 11-14.

During Periods of Quarantine or Absences from School
All students who have selected in-person instruction will only be counted present when they are physically in class unless they have been quarantined due to COVID-19. Only students who are quarantined by the district will be served remotely. This means that non-quarantined in-person students will no longer be able to turn in assignments by 11:59 p.m. of that day to be counted present. They must be physically present in class to avoid an absence. If there are any questions regarding instruction while a student is absent, the student's teacher should be contacted.

Re-Entry Protocols for Confirmed and/or Suspected Cases

Any individuals who themselves either: (a) are lab-confirmed to have COVID-19; or (b) experience the symptoms of COVID-19 (listed below) must stay at home throughout the infection period, and cannot return to campus until the school system screens the individual to determine any of the following conditions for campus re-entry have been met.

In the case of an individual who was diagnosed with COVID-19, the individual may return to school when all three of the following criteria are met:

1. at least 24 hours have passed since recovery (resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications);
    
2. the individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath); and
    
3. at least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

In the case of an individual who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and who is not evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID-19, such individual is assumed to have COVID-19, and the individual may not return to the campus until the individual has completed the same three-step set of criteria for a diagnosed COVID-19 patient.

If the individual has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and wants to return to school before completing the above stay at home period, the individual must obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis or obtain an acute infection test that comes back negative for COVID-19.

Have Questions?

As a continuous improvement district, parents are always welcome to submit questions and feedback to their campus principal or to the district via MISD_Fall2020@misdmail.org. The district and campus will provide updates regularly throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Return to COVID-19 UPDATE homepage

Details are subject to change based on guidelines from local, state and federal authorities. This page will be updated as needed to equip the public with the latest information.

Last updated: May 25, 2021 (final update)