Ector County ISD schools will welcome students back to class Aug. 12 and 13 so Superintendent Scott Muri’s media call Thursday was focused on that.
It’s been all hands on deck leading up to the first day.
“We welcomed 4,200 employees back to work on Aug. 1. Our teachers and administrators have been working diligently to prepare classrooms, to prepare lessons, to prepare materials for students, all for that first day of school,” Muri said.
“Our bus drivers have been busy driving routes. Cafeteria workers have been busy making sure that they stock up on food supplies for the coming year. … Everybody is excited to welcome back 33,500 kids for the first day of school,” he added.
ECISD will have a phased-in start with prekindergarten through sixth grade students and sixth graders at the middle school and ninth graders at the high school starting Aug. 12.
On Tuesday, the remainder of students arrive — with seventh graders, eighth graders, 10th graders, 11th graders and 12th graders.
“We’re excited for that phase-in process. We’ve found it to be very successful. It gives our sixth graders a chance to know middle school with their teachers and their spaces in that new building. And then (at) our high schools, the freshmen get a full day to experience life as new high school students,” Muri said.
Families who are looking for school supply lists can find them on the ECISD website, www.ectorcountyisd.org.
The lists are different for elementary, middle and high school kids.
“We have families that may be searching for some help with back to school materials,” Muri said. “In fact, this week alone we held a back to school bash and we gave away over 150 backpacks filled with supplies and materials within 30 minutes, so we know that there’s a lot of need in our community.
“Members of our faith community, our business community, our nonprofit community are all busy ensuring that our students have the supplies and materials they need for that first day. So parents, if you’re interested, our local media as well as the ECISD website contain more information on how to find those back to school supplies, as well as what those materials happen to be,” he added.
Muri also reminded the community that traffic will be different starting Monday with school buses in the early morning, later afternoon and evening hours picking up and dropping off students.
“We want to remind all members of our community just to be careful as we will have students in school zones. We’ll have students in and around neighborhoods getting on and off of our school buses, so that will add extra traffic and just some extra student movement so be careful as you’re driving around our school zones, as well as bus stops located throughout Ector County.”
In addition to school zone and traffic conditions, motorists will notice additional cars on the road, especially around all the schools “so just be aware, those of you that travel by a school both in the morning and afternoon, that traffic patterns will be different specially in the first week of school.”
Bus drivers are practicing their routes.
“Literally about an hour ago in my office (about 2 p.m. Aug. 8), I was meeting with some of our transportation folks,” Muri said. “They have rerouted to add to the level of efficiency to our transportation system. We have a new director of transportation, so some really good work has happened with that department over the summer. Nevertheless, the first week of school our bus drivers, as well as our students and families, are figuring out exact bus stops and exact times that those buses will arrive. We encourage all of our families to exercise patience both before and after school for pickup and for drop off in the afternoon.”
He also strongly encouraged every family that needs transportation to complete a transportation request, which is available online at the ECISD website.
“The sooner we have that bus registration information, the sooner a bus can pick up your child. So if you haven’t done that already, I encourage you to do that ASAP because we are working on those bus routes as we speak,” Muri said.
Registration has begun for new and returning students.
If you have not yet registered, you can visit the ECISD website and download the app, or the local schools can help parents navigate the process, Muri said.
