Northside ISD waiting on state guidance to decide on coronavirus closures

CONVERSE, Tex. (KTSA News) — Northside ISD’s athletics director is disappointed that the state high school basketball tournament had to be canceled and hopes to get games going sometime in the near future.

He also isn’t sure what the school schedule will look like in the near future.

“Obviously we are disappointed,” Stan Laing told ESPN San Antonio Thursday afternoon.  “But at the same time, there is positively hope that we will be able the play games at some point.”

The University Interscholastic League postponed the state high school basketball tournament earlier Thursday over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

“We have to put things in perspective,” Laing explained.  “I don’t want to get into the debate ‘Is this hysteria or a real health scare’.  But obvious there is enough truth out there for us to need to be concerned about it.”

That concern carried over to the classroom.

Hosts Rob Thompson and Jason Minnix asked the district athletics director about when Northside ISD will decide one way or the other about whether it plans to close its campuses because of the coronavirus.

Laing said it is not completely clear.

“At this point, we are really waiting on state authorities and obviously my understanding [is] possibly the Commissioner of Education is supposed to be addressing this over the next day or so to help give us some direction so we can communicate to our communities.”

Among the concerns Laing stated was the economic diversity Northside ISD has and that one policy may not work well for the entirety of the school system.

On one hand, having students go to class puts them at risk of becoming ill or passing the virus along to someone at home if it gets transmitted in the classroom.  On the other, some families will have to choose between working or watching their child because of this concern.