More than 100 Brownsville ISD nurses met Wednesday to prepare for the school year by receiving training on how to administer COVID tests and even how to recognize and get help for students with anxiety.

BISD'S Director of Health Services Alonso Guerrero says maintenance teams are also getting to work.

The district purchased more than 100 air purifiers for each campus nursing office and common areas with just over $208,000 in federal COVID funds.

Gilbert Saenz - an expert on the air purifiers says they also work a little differently than regular models. As COVID droplets fall to the ground, these systems are built to clean them up.

"It sucks in from the bottom, then it goes through the carbon filtration systems, then it goes through the UV light which actually kills the virus,” Saenz said.

The district hopes the measures will help keep everyone safe.

The Brownsville school board is set to meet Thursday to discuss going beyond Governor Greg Abbott's orders and making their own safety mandates.

"We're going to encourage masks for everybody, for staff and students,” Guerrero said.