Waco Reporter

At Abbott Independent School District, students are back in the classroom, parents are happy and the high school football team has started the season 2-0, said Superintendent Eric Pustejovsky.

Elementary school cheerleaders greeted students Aug. 20 as they were dropped off by their parents.

“The parents were so excited, the students were so excited,” Pustejovsky told the Waco Reporter. “The students were excited to see their friends. The parents were saying, ‘Thank you reopening face-to-face. We’ve had our kids since March and we are ready to hand them back to you.’”

The school system has precautions are in place to guard against COVID-19. As of Sept. 10, there had been 106 cases of COVID-19 in Hill County, with two deaths, according to the county health department. Pustejovsky  said he is not aware of any cases within the city of Abbott.

“We temperature check every student and staff member on a daily basis,” Pustejovsky said. “Our staff members are required to fill out a COVID screener questionnaire on a daily basis, in addition to their temperature checks.”

Also, everyone 10 and older must wear masks under an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

There has been no COVID-19 cases among students or staff since schools reopened Aug. 20, the superintendent said.

The school system offered a choice of in-person or virtual instruction for its 285 students. In-person was by far the winner.

“Over 90% of our students came back face-to-face,” said Pustejovsky.

The school system did not require COVID-19 testing before reopening for in-person instruction. It does, however, require athletes to undergo more extensive screening as they are in close contact with students from other school districts.

“The fact that I can go on Friday nights and watch our kids play football is awesome,” Pustejovsky said.   

There is no way at this point to completely stop COVID-19 but there are ways to mitigate it, the superintendent said. 

“If you are doing those things, being smart about things, it can work,” he said.

It helped that the community was behind the effort, he added.

“The response we have had from our community has been overwhelmingly supportive of the district opening up,” he said. “For us this has been a step forward to getting back to normal.”