CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Clay County teachers headed back to the classroom on Monday, with classes slated to resume Aug. 10.
Unlike Duval County, Clay County teachers returned to work without a temporary mask mandate.
News4Jax caught up with Superintendent David Broskie at an event to kick off teachers going back to school.
“We recognize that student safety and safety of our staff is our top priority, and we’re going to do that through this year through use of social distancing, individual school plans, as well as enhanced cleaning protocols,” Broskie said.
But Broskie won’t offer any support of a mask mandate.
As COVID-19 cases spike, there was pushback in the News 4 Clay County Facebook group over school starting without restrictions like mask mandates.
“Should be postponed. Just going to make the outbreak worse!” one person wrote.
Another person posted: “I think we should all be online”
According to Clay County District Schools, there were 260 full-time students signed up for Clay Virtual Academy -- compared to this point last year when there were 2,400.
Teachers like Yvette Kapelka know that unless something changes in the next week, school in Clay County will essentially be back to normal.
“You kind of just roll with it when you’re a teacher. I’m just glad we get to be in person. I teach kindergarten, so I’m excited to be in the classroom with my babies,” Kapelka said.
Visitors will have to sign a document when they go into Clay County schools this year, but the school district said it will be operating as a “monitored” campus instead of a “closed” campus like it did last year when no visitors were allowed.