MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Local counties are discussing their options for schooling in the fall after Florida's new mandate, ordering all school buildings must open at least five days a week.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration issued the emergency order on the return to in-person classes, on the same day that President Trump tweeted out that, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!”
"When they send out an order that you've got to be open five days a week and everyone's got to go there five days a week without the exceptions, it's like turning our schools into death camps,” said Manatee County School Board Member Dave Miner.
On Thursday, the Manatee County Superintendent Cynthia Saunders laid out her recommendations for the school board.
Saunders presented this 5-day live instruction plan.
She originally recommended Pre-K through 5th grade return to campus on a traditional 5-day schedule, but later changed that to Pre-K through 6th grade.
From 7th through 12th grade, Saunders is sticking with her recommendation of a hybrid schedule. It’s a mix of in-person and eLearning.
“With Wednesday being a cleaning day,” Saunders said.
Although this is her recommendation, students and parents will still have the option to continue full-time eLearning, if that is their preference regardless of grade level.
If you choose to go on-campus though ,you will be required to wear a face mask or shield covering when social distancing is not possible.
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Saunders says medical conditions and IEPs will be addressed individually.
Board Member Dr. Scott Hopes voiced his concern for the teachers’ safety.
“Our teachers are scared. I think we’ve all gotten the emails,” Hopes said.
Addressing Manatee County’s Department of Health Officer Jennifer Bencie, he asked, “how best can we ensure that our classroom educators are protected to the fullest extent possible?”
“The sure way to wipe out the school system for the quarter of the year is for 25 percent of our educators to come down with this [virus],” Hopes said.
“Masks can help, and they certainly can’t hurt,” Bencie said.
Hopes suggested they consider having teachers move room to room rather than students, to limit the chances of spreading the virus in the school. He even suggested the students eat in their classroom instead of the cafeteria.
“We have to do something in our community because our numbers are going in the wrong direction,” Bencie said.
Cloth masks will be provided to Manatee County faculty, staff and students.
An additional safety measure the school district plans to take is adding plexiglass barriers on student desks.
Saunders is also recommending that students have random temperature checks, as well as employees receive daily checks upon arrival.
Saunders presentation to the board also notes, “Visitors to a school/district facility will be strictly limited.”
Some school board members were concerned about reopening schools 5-days a week, especially after hearing more than 350 staff members were affected by COVID-19.
“This is when we had minimal employees at our buildings,” Saunders said.
Board Member Charlie Kennedy called the order by the state “phony" and questioned the legality of it.
“I’ll just cut to the chase. I think we would be crazy to reopen schools right now,” Kennedy said.
“The superintendent is a lot more diplomatic than I am and I know she will submit a plan to the DOE even those this Emergency Order is probably illegal and can’t get away with it anyway,” Kennedy said.
To prove his point further, he read a direct quote from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“The way the numbers are looking in Florida right now are concerning, the level of the virus is high and so a statewide mandate to reopen schools without consideration of community spread, really goes against our recommendations.”
“I think we’ve got to find a way to possibly postpone the school year,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got some wiggle room in June, if we push the whole calendar back.”
Hopes cautioned against the idea of delaying the school year.
“The way this pandemic is behaving around the world, we are going to be dealing with it until the end of the year at least and so it’s not going to change,” Hopes said.
“Our decisions are not going to get any easier and whether we start before Labor Day or after Labor Day it probably would not change what we are going to have to do with regards to our employees and in our buildings, unfortunately,” Hopes said. “So, we just need to address it.”
The school board will consider written public comment as they put together the final plan, which they'll vote on at next Tuesday’s school board meeting.
Their plans are due to the state by July 31.
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