CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Local school districts have announced they are delaying the start of classes after Christmas because of a recent surge in coronavirus cases in their attendance areas.
Bishop, Driscoll and Kingsville all will return to school on Monday Jan. 10. Additionally, Freer ISD announced they will delay classes until Thursday.
Kingsville announced its decision on the following Facebook post. Students will be out all week and professional development for the staff will take place on Friday with a teacher workday from home on Thursday.
District officials also were insistent it wasn't considered an extension of the Christmas vacation.
"KISD is implementing a change to its calendar in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID and allow those who have COVID to heal," the Facebook post said. "Note this is not extra vacation time, and it is not the time to be around large gatherings or shopping malls. It is a time to stop the spread of COVID and to heal from COVID."
Driscoll officials also made their announcement on Facebook on Sunday afternoon.
The post also noted that additional information regarding COVID-19 tests will be available soon.
And in Bishop, the rise of COVID-19 cases also was given as the reason for delaying classes in a post to parents.
"Due to the rising COVID-19 numbers in our school community, Bishop CISD will delay the return to school for students until January 10, 2022. If the inclement weather days built into the school calendar are not needed, students will not have to make up the days they miss this week. Otherwise, days used as a result of bad weather will be made up by students at the end of the school year."