I hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy.

The last week has been one for the record books. Extraordinarily cold temperatures, dangerous driving conditions and millions of Texans affected by the abrupt energy outages. Not to mention, more than a week away from teaching, learning and the safety of our school buildings. On Monday, we will return to a sense of normalcy when we open our buildings to scholars and staff.

Here is an update on the status of our buildings as of 5 p.m. on Friday, February 19:

• The press box at Longhorn Stadium, the bathrooms serving the tennis court and baseball field have flooding damage from pipes that cracked due to the cold temperatures.

• The main gym at Cedar Hill HS received water damage due to a bursted pipe and will not be available for use until further notice. The practice gym is available and will be utilized for practices and games.

• Our maintenance team is making repairs to the boilers at Plummer Elementary and Waterford Oaks Elementary. We have every reason to believe the repairs will be made in time to welcome scholars and staff on Monday.

Our Child Nutrition staff have visited our cafeterias and removed any items that are expired or spoiled due to the more than weeklong closure. Our cafeterias will be ready to serve warm breakfast and lunch meals next week and we will resume Grab and Go Meal distribution.

Custodial and maintenance staff have salted and sanded sidewalks to ensure refreezing does not occur over the weekend. Our safety and security staff will start their shift earlier on Monday morning to assess our sidewalks and parking lots and offer safety assistance.

We will start the heaters at our campuses three hours earlier than normal on Monday morning to ensure the buildings are at a comfortable temperature when our Longhorns arrive.

Our maintenance staff will continue to check our buildings over the weekend and make any repairs needed to start school on Monday.

Barring no additional issues occur over the weekend, we are confident all buildings will be ready to welcome scholars and staff on Monday.

I want to thank the men and women of the CHISD maintenance team. While most of us were home with our families, these essential staff members braved the elements to do regular checks of our campuses and district buildings.

Some of you have asked how we will make up the days of missed instruction. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is now allowing districts to submit for a waiver for additional missed school days without having to make them up or use bad weather days. I have instructed my leadership team to complete the waiver and submit it to the state. I will keep you informed of our waiver status and if any changes to our calendar are needed. I applaud the state for allowing us flexibility during this unprecedented time.

For now, please know that the safety of our community guides every decision we make. The CHISD Administration and Board of Trustees will be transparent with communicating any damage in terms of facilities and infrastructure that the district faces as a result of this storm’s aftermath.

We are offering our prayers to scholars, families and staff directly impacted by the storm and we are committed to connecting families and staff with the resources available to assist them during their time of need, in partnership with the City of Cedar Hill.

We are proud of Longhorns helping Longhorns during the most challenging of times. And this crisis is no different. I have instructed all classroom personnel to show grace and leniency to scholars who may have experienced outages with timelines for their assignments.

Thank you for your compassion, empathy and willingness to help your fellow Longhorns move forward through these challenging and unprecedented times.

Sincerely,

Dr. Gerald B. Hudson

Superintendent of Schools

Cedar Hill Independent School District