Carroll ISD unveils dashboard to keep track of COVID-19 in the district

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - Carroll ISD in Southlake started school Monday with about half its students going back to the classroom.

The district, unlike others that have started with students in the class, unveiled a dashboard to help track cases.

Nearly 60 percent of students in the district went to school in person. Carroll ISD has a new COVID-19 dashboard to keep parents up to date if anyone tests positive.

Some parents chose to have their students do virtual classes only.

Elliot Scott's fourth and fifth-grade daughters went to school in person. They also rode the bus to and from school.

“Every kid got to sit by themselves, so they had enough physical distance between them,” Scott said. “They had to go to the back of the bus that they were able to go to.”

To help track the spread of the virus if someone gets sick in the district, it unveiled a dashboard that shows parents, students and staff how many cases there are at each school, whether those cases are students or staff and lists the number of recovered cases at each school.

Carroll ISD Superintendent Dr. David Faltys says he also hopes it can bring some peace of mind to parents.

“I think that is going to be of great value for us. Hopefully, if we get in a situation of tracking or tracing cases, that will help the health department,” he said. “More than anything, we want parents to know we are keeping an eye on it and make an informed decision every morning before they send their kids to school.”

Dr. Faltys says students took wearing a mask and social distancing seriously.

“Even at our high schools, I talked to a principal who said he only had to talk to two or three kids all day about masks,” he said. “So for 14 to 16-year-old kids to be aware, we've all had how many months of training with this. The people on campus understand to be able to have school we have to be safe as possible.”