The Fort Bend Independent School District’s Board of Trustees announced the next steps in their nationwide search for a new superintendent during a board meeting Monday.

As the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage last summer, months away from a vaccine, there were many sides to the argument of whether or not schools should reopen for students. Compelling points of views were made and seen at various school board meetings in our area.

HOUSTON – Busted pipes from winter weather are not just impacting homes, but school districts across Southeast Texas. Maintenance crews in many of those districts are working overtime to access the damage and begin the cleanup process. Cy-Fair, Galveston, Goose Creek, Klein and Fort Bend ISD’s are all dealing with similar situations. Fort Bend ISD hopes to resume normal operations on Monday but that decision won’t be made until Sunday night. AdFort Bend ISD hopes to have a better assessment of the damage tomorrow.

HOUSTON – Fort Bend Independent School District Superintendent of Schools Charles Dupre will announce his intention to resign by December of 2021, he confirmed to KPRC 2 on Monday. “Over the last few years (my wife and I) talked more and more about other opportunities," Dr. Dupre said in an interview. In 2018, Fort Bend ISD was awarded the 2018 H-E-B Excellence in Education Award as the best school district in the large district category, and Dupre was named the Region 4 Superintendent of the Year and finalist for Texas Superintendent of the Year in 2019. During Monday night’s board meeting, Fort Bend ISD said staff will recognize three retiring trustees and newly-elected trustees will be sworn in to begin a three-year term. “The district has come a long way since Dr. Dupre returned to us eight years ago,” said Jason Burdine, FBISD’s outgoing board president.

HOUSTON – HISD Interim Superintendent Dr. Granita Lathan will remain in the interim role. This after the board of trustees voted, 6-3, Thursday to not make her a sole finalist for the job. Earlier in the day the Houston NAACP preemptively sent out a statement also in support of Lathan being named the sole finalist. Vice President Dr. James Dixon cited what he called Lathan’s ability to work with others and provide stability. KPRC 2 received the following statement Friday morning from HISD’s Press Office:“I respect the decision of the HISD Board of Education to resume the search for a superintendent.

HOUSTON – Fort Bend ISD parents considering to change their child’s learning environment for the spring semester have a day left to decide. The deadline is looming for parents looking to move their child from in-person classes to online learning or the other way around. The district has requested parents fill out a form via Skyward Family Access by November 12 at 11:59 p.m. Dalia Abouzeid, a mother of two, said she was considering switching her third grader and sixth grader to in-person learning, but ultimately decided to keep them in virtual classrooms. Dupre said if a school does not have the capacity to accommodate many students wanting to switch to in-person learning, the district will consider turning large multi-purpose rooms into classrooms.

SUGAR LAND, Texas – The deadline has been extended for Fort Bend Independent School District parents deciding if they want their children to continue virtual learning or head back to the classroom. Ft. Bend ISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said board members wanted to give more parents time to decide. Online learning vs. face-to-face instructionNinety percent of the students enrolled in Ft. Bend ISD has selected which learning model they intend to follow. Teachers, staff & students return to classroomsFt. Bend ISD administrators are still configuring the number of students set to return to each campus. What’s next in Ft. Bend ISDBoard members are set to meet Monday night.

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas On Wednesday night the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees voted to ask the TEA for a four-week extension for online learning. According to the district, this will allow for more time to phase in face-to-face learning. Beginning Sept. 28, elementary students would be phased in by grade levels for face-to-face instruction. A secondary phase-in the following week would then include middle and high school students in phases. Superintendent Charles Dupre said the approach would keep safety in mind during the transition from online learning, especially for younger students.

Here are things you need to know for Tuesday, Sept. 1:1. Greg Abbott asked state agencies to cut their spending by 5% but largely exempted programs deemed crucial to public health. LIST: Houston-area hospitals are relaxing visitor policies as area positivity rate goes downHouston-area hospitals are beginning to relax their strict visitor policies as the positivity rate in the area is on the downturn. Heres a look at the visitor policies for some of the areas largest hospital systems as of Monday, Aug. 31. 3 things to shareWORD OF THE DAY:Coffers: [ kaw-ferz, kof-erz ] (plural noun) Funds, especially of a government or corporation.

SUGAR LAND, Texas About 2.5 years after workers stumbled upon the first skeletal remains during construction of a Fort Bend Independent School District Career and Technical Center, the school district published a 500-page report honoring the Sugar Land 95.Its not speculation, its archeology, a true historical report that documents all of this, said Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Dr. Charles Dupre. RELATED: Sugar Land 95 reburied, public memorial planned for springThe report includes a roster of 72 African American men who worked and died on Bullhead Convict Labor Camp in the late 1890s and early 1900s, part of a horrific and state-sanctioned prison labor system, who were likely buried in some of the 95 unmarked graves. The roster includes William Crawford, who records suggest was a 21-year-old married man accused of forgery and was gunned down trying to escape the prison camp. Researchers have secured funding for the first batch of DNA extractions, officials wrote on the Fort Bend ISD website. Additional funding will be needed to fund the remaining DNA extractions, analysis, comparisons to existing databases, public outreach, and genealogical studies.Read more here.

SUGAR LAND, Texas – Learning centers in Fort Bend Independent School District are designed to help students with unique needs by providing a safe place for them to do their online learning with adult supervision. Dr. Charles Dupre, Ft. Bend ISD’s superintendent, said the plan to roll out and open these learning centers is not going as smoothly as he had hoped. The demand for a seat is so overwhelming due to the district having trouble getting the learning centers staffed. More than 15,000 parents in the district requested seats but only 1,100 are available right now because of staffing issues. It means 4,000 to 5,000 students who are eligible and fit into the priority category are now on a waiting list.

FORT BEND COUNTY – A letter from the Fort Bend ISD superintendent was the equivalent of a bombshell for perhaps thousands of parents in the district. On Friday, Dr. Charles Dupre wrote that the district faced “significant staffing issues” and “may not be able to offer” special education programs at campuses. "I think it says that teachers are afraid to come back," said Glenda Guzman Macal, president of the Fort Bend American Federation of Teachers. “To ask teachers, administrative staff, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, admin staff to put their lives at stake,” she said. "It would be great if some of those jobs can work with those parents to help with the process of keeping and teaching them at home," said Leverne Moore, a grandmother who lives in Fort Bend County.

SUGAR LAND, Texas – Virtual online learning in Fort Bend Independent School District begins Aug. 17. Fort Bend ISD is addressing parents concerns with learning centers. What are learning centers? Designated schools within Fort Bend will serve as learning centers. Who are learning centers for?

As Fort Bend ISD continues to plan for the upcoming school year, the Texas Education Agency’s recent announcement has created concern for the district. “Today’s (Tuesday’s) announcement from the TEA is disappointing because the guidance, as written, does not provide local school districts with the flexibility to make decisions based on local data or community and staff values and expectations,” a spokesperson for Fort Bend ISD said. “Fort Bend ISD is considering many safeguards and precautions to mitigate the spread of illness within our schools,” Superintendent Charles Dupre said. “Our teachers and campus staff are at the heart of everything we do, and we will not ask them to bear the risk and weight of any re-opening plan,” Dupre said. Additionally, pre-registration will reveal the number of students desiring either face-to-face or virtual instruction and better allow the district to decide how classrooms will be used at each school.

Fort Bend ISD plans on offering both face-to-face and virtual instruction for the 2020-21 school year. Fort Bend ISD will comply with guidance issued by the UIL. Measures not addressed yetTransportationMeal servicesPartitionsInstruction methods offeredFort Bend ISD plans to offer face-to-face and full-time virtual instruction through a remote synchronous and asynchronous format. Recent updatesFort Bend ISD is expected to host a live stream with superintendent Charles Dupre on July 15. — Fort Bend ISD (@FortBendISD) July 14, 2020Do you have questions about Fort Bend ISD’s plan?

Fort Bend ISD plans on offering both face-to-face and virtual instruction for the 2020-21 school year. Fort Bend ISD will comply with guidance issued by the UIL. Face-to-faceFort Bend ISD has not officially outlined what the classroom setting will look like for face-to-face instruction during the 2020-21 school year. Remote Asynchronous Instruction: Instruction that does not require having the instructor and student engaged at the same time. Recent updatesFort Bend ISD hosted a live stream with superintendent Charles Dupre on July 1.

Fort Bend ISD, the 8th largest school district in Texas with over 78,000 students, is close to unveiling its plans for the 2020-2021 school year. Schools are scheduled to open on August 12, and the district will hold its next big virtual meeting with parents on July 13. “Our goal is to have any child in school all day, every day. Fort Bend ISD officials plan to ask each parent to choose whether they want their children to attend or learn from home virtually. However, the “hybrid” plan, where students participate in both virtual and in-person learning, is not completely off the table, officials said.

HOUSTON Fort Bend Independent School District parents now have an idea what the upcoming school year will look like hybrid learning. The 2020-2021 school year in Fort Bend County will begin on Aug. 12 with and without students returning to class. Students can either attend school full-time, learn online full-time or attend school some days and do online learning the remainder of their week. Im one of the parents who I believe my child should stay at home and do online learning. Not the hybrid, just the online learning due to all that we do not know about COVID-19, Jzaugn Pitts said.

HOUSTON – School districts and students prepare for coursework to begin online. After a soft launch last week, school is now in session online for students at Klein Independent School District. “I think the biggest challenge is we want to connect with our kids and this is a whole different medium for caring and connecting,” said Klein ISD Superintendent, Jenny McGown. Fort Bend Superintendent Charles Dupre said that the district is preparing for online curriculum to begin on Friday. “We know parents will struggle, teachers will struggle, kids will struggle but the goal is make sure we are doing our best every single day to serve the kids."