CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas Education Agency said there's going to be a new tracking system to monitor and report positive COVID-19 cases in our schools across the state.
TEA said they're partnering with the Department of State Health Services on a new system to track coronavirus cases across public schools in Texas.
Officials with TEA said school systems will report cases to DSHS and in turn will publicly report data on cases and outbreaks in schools starting in September.
TEA releasing this statement in part:
"Having this knowledge and being able to publicly share the accumulated case totals from schools in a single place covering the entire state of Texas will help us to further support the health and safety of all Texans."
Our local American Federation of Teachers union President Dr. Nancy Vera says she isn't impressed by today's announcement.
"Now they're going to track the number of COVID cases and the number of children who have it, so what?" Dr. Vera said. "The fact of the matter is, are we going to sacrifice another life just because we simply want to open the schools? I don't think so."
Dr. Vera believes school districts are not prepared to accept kids back into our schools for in-person classes. She claims we don't have the equipment, supplies or guidance from the Texas Education Agency to safely reopen to students.
The new reporting system will begin in September when many school districts will begin to allow students to return to the classroom.
Right now, the Corpus Christi ISD is set to open it's door to students September 8.