Conroe ISD will not prohibit COVID-19 positive students from coming to class

CONROE, Texas - Conroe ISD released their COVID-19 health guidance earlier this week for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. Currently, district officials say they won’t deny any student who’s sick and tests positive for COVID from coming to class. 

"If they do test positive, that individual should isolate for 10 days. They should be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to work or school without fever-reducing medications. They should be diarrhea-free for 24 hours and note that students should notify the school nurse," said district officials during a board of trustees meeting on Tuesday.  
 
Conroe ISD will return to 100% in-person learning in less than a month. Masks are optional and so is staying home for students or teachers who test positive for COVID-19. 

"We are not, at this time, going to absolutely, positively prohibit them from coming to school. But they should. They should take personal responsibility," officials said.  

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In an email, a Conroe ISD spokesperson said no one was available for an interview Thursday, instead, citing a ruling from the Texas Department of State Health Services that currently does not include COVID-19 on a list of communicable diseases that would exclude a student from school, until re-admission health criteria are met. 

FOX 26 reached out to DSHS for comment. 

A representative said, "the department is now in the process of adding COVID-19 to the list" adding that the update should be done by the upcoming school year.

The spokesperson also said, "there’s nothing that would prevent a school (like Conroe ISD) from excluding a student who has a condition not on the list." 

Conroe ISD officials referred to the Delta variant as a "wildcard" and say officials will continue monitoring cases and adjust accordingly. 

"Since this was built three weeks ago, hospitalization rates have in the last two weeks, have gone up 1,000% in Montgomery County. Speaking about Memorial Hermann, they went from four hospitalizations to 40 in a week. So the situation has changed dramatically. If we are still in that situation in August, then we will be more robust in what we’re doing."

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FOX 26 reached out to other local school districts including Houston ISD, Fort Bend ISD, and Cy-Fair ISD; so far, none of those districts have released their COVID-19 policies for the upcoming school year yet.