LISD Officials;

LISD District Leadership:

Superintendent, Dr. Kevin Rogers;

Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Lori Rapp;

Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Mark Youngs;

Chief Communications Officer, Ms. Amanda Brim;

General Counsel, Mr. Jeff Crownover;

Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Bryon Kolbeck;

LISD Chief Executive Directors, including:

Chief Executive Director Accountability & Evaluation, Dr. Sarah Fitzhugh;    

Chief Executive Director Employee Services, Ms. Shelia Smith;

Chief Executive Director Learning & Teaching, Dr. Robert Thornell;

Chief Executive Director Organizational Learning, Dr. Shawna Miller;

Chief Executive Director Special Education, Dr. Kathy Talbert;

Chief Executive Director Student Support Services, Mr. Jeffrey Kajs;

Chief of Schools, High School, Mr. Andy Plunkett;

LISD High School Principals, including:

Flower Mound High School Principal, Mr. Chad Russell;

Marcus High School Principal, Mr. Will Skelton;

Hebron High School Principal, Ms. Amy Boughton;

Lewisville High School Principal, Mr. Jim Baker;

The Colony High School Principal, Dr. Tim Baxter;

LISD Board of Trustees, including:

Katherine Sells, President, Place 4;

Tracy Scott Miller, Vice President, Place 7;

Allison Lassahn, Secretary, Place 2;

Angie Cox, Place 3;

Kristi Hassett, Place 6;

Jenny Proznik, Place 5;

Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, Mike Morath,

 

As LISD students, we recognize how difficult organizing a plan to accommodate the entire district is, and we thank you for working towards the students’ best interests. This upcoming school year is unlike anything we have ever had to face, but we are in this together. 

 

With that being said, many LISD students do not feel safe attending school in-person due to the growing presence of COVID-19 in our communities. As the neighboring Frisco ISD reports that 44.19 percent of parents chose the virtual academy for their students, it can be expected that a comparable number of LISD families feel the same. While LISD may not have anticipated the amount of students who would prefer to stay at home, it has become evident that the current options for remote classes are not sufficient. 

 

 

The list of virtually-offered courses omits several specialized science classes, a number of electives, and more than half of the AP classes that are offered in person. The courses inaccessible remotely include: AP Chemistry, American Sign Language, AP Calculus BC, computer science classes, AP Art, AP Physics, and many more. Several, if not all of these courses, are considered by students to be both rewarding in their own right and essential for their future success, and their elimination consequently diminishes students’ personal fulfillment and future prospects. In short, the available classes do not meet the diverse needs of LISD students. 

 

These limited options have far-reaching implications, specifically regarding GPA and college applications. The Princeton Review reports that “the rigor of [the student’s] high school curriculum is the most important element of [their] college application,” adding in a separate article that “admission committees want to see [the student is] challenging [themself] academically, which means taking honors, AP, or IB courses.” This assertion is supported by the 2002 report, Trends in College Admission 2000: A report of a national survey of undergraduate admission policies, practices, and procedures, which revealed that the primary factor in college admissions was the high school GPA, which, when weighted, relies directly on the number of AP, Pre-AP, and other sufficiently advanced courses a student takes. Furthermore, the third, fourth, and fifth most important factors were found to be the amount of college level work in high school, AP course enrollment, and AP course grades respectively. 

 

The importance of AP classes in high school extends beyond the college admissions. The Princeton Review argues that AP courses “are fast-paced, cover more material than regular classes, and require independent work like research and analysis,” and therefore “could ease [the] transition” to university. Indeed, the College Board’s 2009 Comparison of College Performance of Matched AP® and Non-AP Student Groups finds that “AP students who earn course credit consistently outperform their matched Non-AP group on most of the college outcome measures.”

 

The district must also consider the effect of withdrawing elective classes, such as AP Art or the computer science courses. Not only do elective courses help students develop new ways of thinking, expand their perspective, and grow intellectually, they also often cultivate valuable skills imperative for adult life. Many of these elective classes can transition well to an online format.

 

By denying students, who do not feel comfortable returning to school, the opportunity to take classes they ordinarily would, the district is presenting students with a dangerous ultimatum: whether to risk their life, but secure their prospects, or consider their health— but sacrifice their future.

 

Below are a few of the things LISD students have to say:

“Due to these unpredictable times, LISD should not call for uncertain measures. Back to school regulations should be clear, concise, but most of all, flexible. Students should not be punished by not being able to take certain courses due to them feeling unsafe of returning to school. While some courses may not be provided online due to their unique curriculum, there are plenty of courses that LISD could consider offering online (that they haven’t yet) with little to no cost alternatives such as video calling.”

- Emmani Kularatna

"LISD should offer an online option for all classes. Students shouldn't need to risk their health by coming to school in the middle of a pandemic. While I'm lucky that most of my classes will be held online, I'd like my friends to have the same accommodations. Thank you."

- Sowmya Sridhar

“My choice of deciding which option I feel safest with is restricted by the courses being offered as none of my courses are offered online. I should not have to choose between my safety and my education. I believe that LISD is capable of offering more virtual courses by using a synchronous plan with campus teachers and connecting through technology or by adding them to some educational platform. I entered the public school system so that I could have more opportunities, not have them restricted.”

- Samanta Lopez

“You cannot replace a human life.” 

- Noorhan Rashid

“As students [express] their concern for the inevitable dangers accompanying the reopening of schools, they’re only met with demeaning comments or false justifications; people call them lazy, claiming they care not for their safety but rather are looking for an easy way out of their studies, or students are assured that only .02%(14,740) students are likely to die due to contraction of Covid-19. LISD claims to offer a choice, [but] they’ve neglected to make many courses students find to be essential in their high school careers available [online]. Students should not have to choose between the possibility of their future and the quality of their future... Not to mention the fact that this is an absolute slap in the face for students who... have preexisting medical conditions that make the threat of [the] virus [worse]. Students and teachers who have grandparents, parents, siblings, [and] kids in their homes with such conditions are being forced to jeopardize not only their own health but the health of their loved ones. I, nor my grandfather, nor my father, nor my mother, nor my brothers should have to face potential hospitalization or even death over a PSAT test prep course. And I should not have to sacrifice said course for the sake of my wellbeing.”

- Zaina Asad 

“We shouldn’t have to choose between our future and our families’ lives.”

- Heather Sims

“Not all students can get to and from school at various times during the day, and as a result, cannot do virtual plus. However, they can't do online since a large portion of classes aren't offered. Those students shouldn’t be forced to give up their classes because they aren’t online or attend school whether or not they’re comfortable with it.” 

- Juliana Donaldson

“Some of these classes we’ve been looking forward to since freshman year. Some were aimed to help our career choices. As someone who loves to learn I would appreciate it if you could do everything you can to try to make the classes online for the safety of our students and staff.”

- Fatima Jafri 

“As a junior, I'm running out of time to take some advanced courses to add to my college application.  This is an important year to take AP courses, but most of the APs I want to take are not offered in LISD's online plan.  Additionally, I was really excited to be taking AP Capstone, but now I'm worried that, since it's not offered as a virtual class, I won't be able to take it.  This means I most likely wouldn't be able to take Seminar and receive the capstone credit.  It almost feels like LISD is telling me that if I want to take the classes I've looked forward to for months, I have to put my health on the line.”

- Anika Saiprabhu

The overwhelming consensus is that many students fear for our safety and for the safety of our educators, but resent the extent that the choice to remain home limits our educational opportunities. As students, we hold the right to equal opportunities in our education in high regard. While we understand the limitations for accountability, attendance, and the TEA requirements for financial allocations, we maintain that viable possibilities can be drawn from a combination of newly-developed techniques and the platforms already in place from the spring. Although we aren’t experts on this subject, we propose a few possible solutions for further consideration:

Expand the Virtual Learning Academy, which has proved effective and has been well received in the past, to include the courses that are unavailable 
For lecture-based classes, allow students to attend remotely via a WebEx live feed or similar. Although it has been argued that a recorded lecture is not interactive enough, many students would prefer to attend a less-interactive version of a course rather than forgo that course all together. Various apps, such as EdPuzzle, can be used to make this method more hands-on and hold students accountable.
Select LISD teachers to teach the unavailable classes through Canvas or another learning platform, utilizing online labs and videos. Although there is little time to train staff, some systems for easy at-home learning may already be in place from the spring.

 

Although we may not be able to identify a perfect solution, we have realized that there is a considerable portion of LISD students who are not supported by the current arrangement. In order to maintain LISD's characteristically commendable learning environment, we ask that you consider expanding the options for online courses to include these courses:

AP Seminar
AP Research
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
AP Physics 1, 2, & C
Computer Science 1, 2, & AP
Web Technologies
PAP Spanish 5
AP Spanish 6
American Sign Language
AP Art
PSAT Team
Journalism
Anatomy & Physiology
Pathophysiology
College Prep Math
Medical Microbiology

 We would also like to ask for an opportunity to meet with the school board virtually to have a discussion. 

 We have started a petition and have collected over 450 supporters. The link to the petition is below.

https://www.change.org/p/lisd-school-board-equal-opportunity-for-online-lisd-students 

 Attached to this email is a video we have created to help inform people in our community. We have also created an Instagram account called “@lisdonline,” featuring an informational graphic slideshow.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We are LISD!