SMCISD to provide meals for students

San Marcos Consolidated ISD students will have a chance to pick up “grab and go” meals at select locations beginning Monday.

With the school district’s suspension of normal oper ations amidst the growing actions taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, children 18 years old and under can pick up a meal at either Travis Elementary School, San Marcos High School, Allen Wood Housing, C.M. Allen Housing and Redwood Baptist Church.

San Marcos High School and Travis Elementary School will provide breakfast from 8 a.m.-9:30 a.m., and will have lunch pick up available from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunches will be available for pick up at Allen Wood Housing, C.M. Allen Housing and Redwood Baptist Church from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

SMCISD states that meals must be picked up in a vehicle and the children must be inside to receive a meal. The district is exploring additional sites and delivery options.

Additionally, the SMCISD Board of Trustees held a special called meeting on Thursday where it approved a resolution which guarantees that all district employees will be paid throughout the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year without a disruption caused by the current suspension of operations.

“I think that the school district has taken a great step in ensuring that our employees are going to continue to get their paycheck,” trustee Lupe Costilla said Thursday. “I very much appreciate that … I feel that we’re doing all that we possibly can.”

An amendment to pay substitute teachers who have worked 75 days or more during the 2019-2020 school year failed, 4-3.

The board also approved the purchase of Wi-Fi hotspots for SMCISD households. The district is asking that families who need access to the internet for their students to reach out to their campus principal.

Parents will begin receiving information about how students will be able to access specific assignments and instructional resources on Monday, March 30. Parents with children that receive special education support will receive direct contact from the special education department regarding ac commodations, modifications and specialized lessons.

The trustees also discussed the school’s calendar during Thursday's meeting. There will be no modifications to the school calendar and work days from district students and staff. The district will keep its current academic and work calendar as originally scheduled. According to the district, there will be no extension to either the academic or work calendar because of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We won’t need to modify the schedule at all,” superintendent Michael Cardona said. “The modifications will be in our graduation, the way we graduate students. (The Texas Education Agency) basically this year, they’ve allowed everybody to be under an individual graduation committee. So, I hate that we have this pandemic but it could benefit some of our students, who have had trouble as freshmen and sophomores and lack some tests, it’ll give us some leeway in working with them and getting them through potentially … what we don’t know yet is if graduation will be impacted. When is the return date? That we don’t know.”