English I and English II STAAR tests will be held on Friday, with freshmen and sophomores currently in English 1 and 2 testing. Virtual students are not required to attend, but they will have to take and pass all five end-of-course exams to graduate.

“[Students are] eventually going to have to take [the STAAR tests,]”  assistant principal Brian McCoo said. “There’s no online version where kids can go home and take it from there. [They] have to do the five no matter what.”

Testers need to arrive in their assigned testing rooms at 8:20 a.m. Dismissal is expected to be at 1:30 p.m.

“[Testers] should be able to leave right after the test,” McCoo said. “We do have a bus that will be here at 1:30 p.m., then a sweep of buses that will be here at 4 p.m.”

Virtual school begins at 2 p.m. To be counted present for Friday, students must engage online by virtually attending class, completing an assignment or making contact with their teacher. McCoo said depending on the student’s attendance record, they could be penalized for missing online class.

“[Students] only want to miss so many days of school before we start sending you notices about losing credit for class,” McCoo said.

U.S. History, Algebra and Biology STAAR tests will be held in May. McCoo suspects that more online school days could occur in May due to AP and STAAR testing, but the schedule is not yet solidified.