Dade teachers host drive for PPE and cleaning products before schools reopen Monday
Donations can be dropped off at United Teachers of Dade headquarters, 5553 NW 36th St., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
As Miami-Dade’s public schools scramble to welcome back students into the classroom beginning Monday, the teachers’ union is collecting donations of PPE and sanitation supplies for educators.
The United Teachers of Dade has been making unannounced visits to schools to check for spacedout desks, hand sanitizer and clear signage for social distancing and designated seating. They’ve said while some schools are prepared, others aren’t, with some supplies on back order.
“Let’s focus on reopening safely by giving our education workforce the supplies that they need so that the protective bubbles that we have ensured for our students can continue to protect us,” said the union’s president, Karla HernandezMats.
On Thursday, the union announced a community drive seeking donations from the public for hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, masks, shields, masking tape, paper towels, antibacterial wipes, disinfecting spray and money for additional supplies.
Those supplies will be available for educators to pick up on an as-needed basis.
Those donations can be dropped off at the union’s headquarters, 5553 NW 36th St. in Miami Springs, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The union has already received donations from Congresswoman Donna Shalala, D-Miami, who gave six palettes of supplies worth $2,500. City Works, a public-works and infrastructure company, donated $15,000 worth of masks and 1,000 units of 8-ounce hand-sanitizer bottles.
Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas’ initiative, #ServingMiamiDade, committed to donating 4,000 masks and the American Federation of Teachers provided 25,000 face shields to be shared in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The South Florida Council of Firefighters donated $1,000 for securing additional supplies.
School district spokeswoman Jackie Calzadilla wrote in an email that the district
“prioritized resources to increase existing inventories of cleaning supplies, purchase large quantities of PPE, develop and print signage and procure additional equipment for schools to comply with safety protocols.”
She sent a list of supplies purchased by the district, including electrostatic sprayers, Tyvek suits and thermometers.
“With these investments, our schools are now equipped with sufficient PPE and sanitization supplies to safely welcome our students and employees back to the schoolhouse for the 20202021 school year,” she wrote. “As always, we welcome community partners that want to support public education and provide additional resources.”
Hernandez-Mats encouraged parents to keep students at home learning online.
“That is the safest place for your child to be during a pandemic,” she said.
For those who choose to send their children to school, Hernandez-Mats recommended sending children to school with their own hand sanitizer and to remind them to wear their masks the entire school day.
She also said parents should ask their children how many classmates are in their classroom, how close or apart they were and what the social-distance markings are like since parents cannot walk into schools.
The United Teachers of Dade, along with Broward Teachers Union, previously launched an awareness campaign called #SafeSchoolsSFL urging parents to publicly document the conditions in their child’s classroom.
Also on Thursday, union leaders met via Zoom video conference with district officials to discuss issues ahead of reopening schools, as required by a School Board vote on Tuesday.
“So far, they’ve been good about listening to what we’re hearing on the ground and they’ve been good with making those corrections,” Hernandez-Mats said.
She said some schools, such as Leisure City K-8, have been better at preparing for reopening schools than others. She said the principal at that school, where 60% of students reportedly opted for online learning, has been working to put families and teachers at ease. Hernandez-Mats said only one or two teachers there preferred teaching from home.
In July, Hernandez-Mats opted for her own children, a first-grader and a fifthgrader, to return to school for in-person learning. She says her children will stay home from school on Monday and be marked absent all next week because she isn’t ready to send them into the classroom.
“I really thought they were going to have the class size taken care of,” she said. “A lot of things have changed since the summer.”