Staff members at Carroll ISD, Wylie ISD test positive for COVID-19 as school start nears

Two North Texas school districts that plan to welcome students back on campus in the coming days and weeks are already dealing with coronavirus cases among staff members.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - Two North Texas school districts that plan to welcome students back on campus in the coming days and weeks are already dealing with coronavirus cases among staff members.

Staff members are testing positive at schools that will soon welcome back students.

In Southlake, two employees have tested positive. Staff members at Eubanks Intermediate School are now in quarantine. They are considered to have been in close contact with the person who became infected, even though all were wearing masks.

The staff member who tested positive linked to Carroll Elementary did not have any close contact with other staffers.

Still, at a virtual school board meeting Monday night, parents were eager to get their kids back to the classroom.

Over in Collin County, Wylie ISD has also notified staff that three among them have tested positive, linked to Draper and Davis intermediates and Burnett Junior High. A district spokesperson says no one within the school system came in close contact with them, and teachers testing positive is a given.

“It’s probably going to be inevitable. So that’s where the remote teaching comes in. That’s where team teaching comes in,” said Ian Halperin with Wylie ISD. “The ones who tested positive were long ago enough that they should be back in the classroom by the first day of school.”

Wylie ISD goes back to school Thursday, with half of its students physically coming back on campus.

“We want it to go well,” Halperin said. “But we really don’t know what’s going to happen until we get them back.”

Southlake Carroll ISD starts on Aug. 24, also partially in-person for parents who choose. Nearly 100 people signed up to speak at the school board meeting two weeks out from school start, voicing opinions on whether teachers testing positive now should matter.

Both school districts already exercising their protocol for reporting lab-positive cases before school even starts.

Staff has been doing professional development and training, which is how these staff members have come in contact with each other, although while wearing masks.