Despite the many complications that have risen throughout the process of determining if and when students would return to classrooms, Hillsborough County is sticking to its plan to reopen its doors on Monday.
Schools are reopening, Florida’s weekly death average continues to decline and hospitalizations are steadily decreasing.
So is the state on the right track?
To put it simply, it’s complicated.
As of Wednesday, Florida added 3,220 COVID-19 cases, which brought the number of infections up to 608,722 according to the Florida Department of Health. Those numbers — while on the decline — cannot easily be brushed off. The state also had 155 deaths from COVID, which brought the weekly death average down to 115 people per day. That means Florida is now at 10,872 total deaths.
People have fallen into a routine. Those who take the virus seriously still stay home as much as possible and wear their masks out in public even in areas without a mask mandate. Those who don’t go out as they please and will advocate for their right to go maskless. The data has indicated that if the routine remains uninterrupted, eventually the numbers would decrease to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of a positivity rate of 5 percent or below — currently, Florida’s average weekly positivity rate is around 14 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University — and Florida could confidently say it had a handle on COVID-19.
But the routine is now interrupted.
Schools are opening up. Hillsborough County has one of the largest school districts in Florida and opinions on how best to educate those students has been a topic of intense debate for months.
First the schools were going to open on Aug. 10, then on Aug. 24 and then students were told they would do a month of virtual school followed by some brick-and-mortar learning in the fall. That didn’t last long and the administration decided the students would do a virtual “Start Smart” on Aug. 24 for a full week before the doors to the buildings would open on Aug. 31.
That didn’t sit well with many officials and parents, nor did the direction offered from Florida’s Department of Education officials, and Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson ruled in favor of the state’s teachers’ union on Monday. Dodson said the Department of Education “essentially ignored the requirement of school safety” because they were forcing schools to reopen their doors.
So teachers, parents, students and elected officials were left confused and questioning the future. However, on a quick County School Board workshop on Tuesday morning, a plan was finally created. Superintendent Addison Davis and attorney Jim Porter referenced Dodson’s ruling and suggested the board not take any action despite the ruling benefiting local school boards.
They reminded them the ruling is on appeal and there is a good chance it will end up in the state Supreme Court. So they said Hillsborough should keep on with their plan but also monitor the lawsuit in case there is a final decision.
So despite the hurdles, the school year started Monday for thousands of students across the county. Students and teachers logged to their virtual classrooms and immediately encountered a problem.
For three hours Monday morning — from 7 to 10 a.m. — more than 220,000 teachers and students logged into Zoom calls and Canvas, the district’s eLearning app. The system crashed. Parents reported the system malfunction immediately on social media and many voiced their frustrations with the setup.
Luckily it was only down for a few hours and everything was fixed and back in action by mid-morning. Many students will return to brick-and-mortar next week, but those who have the ability and resources to successfully learn from home will likely continue that route. Teachers have their coursework planned out for both in-person lessons and virtual lectures.
Not reopening the schools is something countless parents have called into school board meetings to oppose and social media was flooded over the last few months with posts pleading for the district to open up classrooms.
Safety is obviously a concern. The weekly report of cases in the county’s schools shows three more student cases and 25 more staff cases have been added since Aug. 14. Those come mainly from students who are on campus for preschool or athletics. Teachers returned toward the end of July to begin their planning.
With classrooms filled, it is inevitable the numbers will spike again. However, as many parents have vocalized, sticking strictly to eLearning will inevitably leave children behind. Those who cannot afford top-quality equipment, those with learning disabilities, those who have parents who work, those who don’t have access to routine meals, those who have to share their resources with their siblings, those who have only succeeded with the added benefit of tutors or more hands-on-learning and countless others will need in-person instruction to succeed and stay on track for graduation.
In four days, the classrooms will open with students expected to social distance when possible and wear masks. Teachers have stocked their rooms with hand sanitizer and sanitation wipes and have restructured their lessons to adapt to the new CDC guidelines.
