Amid COVID-19, This Rural School District Orders All Students Back to Class

PAINT ROCK, TX — One rural Texas school district has called it quits on most of the COVID-19 restrictions. Paint Rock ISD announced Tuesday afternoon that all remote learning is canceled effective Friday. Monday, Oct. 19, all students are to report in-person to class, said Superintendent Ron Cline.

“On Monday night, October 12, 2020, the Paint Rock ISD School Board voted 5-1 to end on-line virtual instruction for its students and have all students return to face-to-face instruction on campus,” Cline stated in an email.

The town of Paint Rock is situated due east of San Angelo in Concho County. According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, only 138 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in Concho County since reporting began in March 2020. The U.S. Census reported the county has a population of 4,276 people in 2018.

Cline isn’t completely ignoring COVID-19, but he wants the student’s doctor involved. “The only exceptions will be for students with a medical doctor's note that states that they have COVID-19, are actively being quarantined for COVID-19, or having other health related reasons for not actively attending school in person,” Cline said.

Paint Rock ISD also actively recruits students who reside in San Angelo to transfer to the smaller school district that promotes better supervised instruction and discipline. In San Angelo and neighboring Tom Green County, the TDHHS reports 2,405 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases since the reporting began in March. Tom Green County has a population of 119,200. The state only reports PCR-confirmed cases although the City of San Angelo Health Department also reports Antigen test results, increasing the number of positive cases to 4,101. There are no antigen test results published for Concho County.

At Paint Rock schools, all virtual instruction ends promptly at 4 p.m. Friday. Cline said all students must report for face-to-face instruction beginning Monday, Oct. 19. The school starting bell rings at 7:50 a.m.

Paint Rock ISD is usually the first school district to announce opening delays due to bad weather like icing on the roads. When Cline announces his two-hour opening delays when bad weather if forecasted, just about all of the 27 school districts in the Concho Valley follow his lead. Is he setting a trend for the rest of the Concho Valley by ending COVID-19 restrictions? Time will tell.