LAGO VISTA, Texas (KXAN) — All high school students at Lago Vista High School will shift to online learning beginning Wednesday.
The Travis County district says there’s an increase in positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff. There’s also a limited number of substitute teachers.
Students will return to campus next Monday. As of last Friday, Lago Vista ISD reported nearly 60 cases. No other schools in Lago Vista ISD will be affected by the in-person closures, the district says.
Leita Stewart, a mom of two children in the Lago Vista ISD, said her kids wear masks every day, but they are in the minority. Travis County health authorities say that mask mandates are the difference-makers in local transmission trends in schools.
“I think there would be a lot less district closings if they would enforce a mask mandate since they are not able to socially distance,” Stewart said. “Sometimes it’s more important to take others safety into consideration.”
Lago Vista is hardly the only school system in Central Texas facing these challenges, however.
Based on KXAN’s COVID-19 school district dashboard, compiled with data self-submitted by the districts themselves, the highest rates of infected students, out of the district populations are:
- Lago Vista ISD
- Liberty Hill ISD
- Lockhart ISD
- Bastrop ISD
- Georgetown ISD
Of those, only Lockhart ISD has a mask mandate which just went into effect on Saturday.
At Lockhart ISD in Caldwell County, 781 students are currently quarantined after a dramatic spike in new COVID-19 cases: the district has 204 active cases — 181 of them are students.
The Texas Tribune reports at least 45 small school districts across Texas have been forced to temporarily stop in-person classes because of COVID-19 spread.
