JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Wednesday morning, the Duval County School Board resumed a six-hour marathon board meeting where hundreds of frustrated parents and students shared concerns over the reopening of schools.
Among the public comments, teachers concerned about the state’s latest mandate requiring all public and charter schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction five days a week.
The emergency order from Florida’s education commissioner has scrapped several district’s reopening plans, including Duval County Public Schools.
DCPS planned to unveil a hybrid plan combining limited days of in-person instruction and virtual lessons depending on grade-level, a plan the superintendent told school board members Tuesday night would not work under the mandate.
“One of the things that Dr. Greene said last night, that hybrid model worked if everyone participated. She explained to us last night that does not work under the current mandate which requires schools to be open five days a week,” School Board member Lori Hershey said Wednesday morning. ”She texted me and said I have a new plan. I thought maybe she was going to roll that out last night but it sounds like they are going to iron out a few more details and share that next week.”
Original plans for Duval County busing were to double up routes and require students to wear maks and sit two to a seat. Another aspect of the school’s plans, Hershey says, that will need to tweak under the mandate for all schools to re-open.
Duval County parent Virginia Lesperance, said she’s relieved but cautious about sending her student back into the classroom.
“My first reaction is thank God because I can go to work,” she said. “My other reaction is not good because there is even more exposure and he gets sick or is quarantined that’s time I have to take away from work. I am worried. Because of this, I don’t know if my job will be secure.”
The news of reopening brick-and-mortar schools comes as the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services identified Jacksonville as one of three American cities “seeing significant increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.”
We asked Duval County schools if teachers who give in-person instruction will receive hazard pay and what protocols will be in place if a teacher or a student in the school tests positive for the novel coronavirus.
The school district could not provide answers saying, “As you know, we are in the process of reviewing and modifying our plans as a result of the Commissioner’s emergency order received on Monday. Once our planning process is complete, we will be able to address those questions. That will be in the near future, but not today. We have a complex district with a very broad array of programs and services. We have to explore the implications of every potential step from multiple angles.”
One question teachers have been asking News4Jax: If they get sick, will they have to use their accrued time off if they have to quarantine? News4Jax has requested a copy of the documented protocols for COVID specific sick leave next fall, but we have not received an answer.
Meanwhile, in Miami-Dade, the superintendent said its schools will not be able to open all schools while the county is still in Phase 1.
Mayport Middle school teacher John Meeks said if that happens in Jacksonville teachers would suffer.
“If, God forbid, the first day of school is delayed, we need to keep in mind that educators and educating professional staff are paid for the days they are instructing,” Meeks said. “That means if, God forbid, the first day of school is delayed the first paycheck will be delayed.”
Superintendent Diana Greene echoed the same concern about what any delay with the first day of school would mean for teachers.
Meeks said he doesn’t feel the ink is dry as far as the mandate and says it’s parents and stakeholders who have to speak up about what they want for next year before August.