Tullos offers praise for low Covid numbers

Crediting parents and their students for careful oversight and social discipline, Ennis ISD Superintendent Jay Tullos praised their efforts as a key component in limiting the spread of coronavirus from the spring semester through the fall. Currently, less than one-percent (0.63 pct.) of the 5,838 students have tested positive, and it has kept the football team on the field.

“Positive COVID-19 numbers have remained low within EISD during the fall semester,” Tullos said this week. “This is in part due to students and staff following the mitigation plans that are in place. Another factor has been our custodial staff ensuring facilities are cleaned and sanitized.”

Tullos is in his second year as head of schools, a good portion of it spent learning and developing a strategic plan for the pandemic. Then, as the video version of daily classes proved to be a chore, the administration has been flexible enough to make adjustments and restore students to the traditional style of instruction. They are not alone. Ferris and Palmer have also done similarly, as have districts across the nation.

When initially introduced back in March, experts said that virtual education (students staying at home and watching livestream lessons) would be a short-term divergent as the virus would abate during the warmer summer months. It didn’t.

“It has been a very unpredictable and stressful semester for everyone,” he admitted. “However, our students, staff, and parents have come together and it has actually been a positive experience under the circumstances.”

That is a positive spin on a strained means of learning that lasted about nine weeks in the spring, and then continued this fall as the district “juggled virtual and in-person instruction for (another) 16 weeks,” he explained.

“We want to thank all of our staff who have been asked to do more than they have ever done,” he continued. “They have gone above and beyond the call of duty for our students.”

“In the spring staff members were quickly trained on the program and process of remote learning. We also had staff members creating, copying and distributing hundreds of paper copies each week. Over the summer teachers had much more training on virtual instruction. This fall our teachers have had to teach to their in-person students while also teaching students virtually.”