Broward Board says masks will be worn
Except at desks, most kids in school must cover their face
Anna Warburton, of Cooper City, with her
On the bus, in the hallways, anytime they’re moving around: Broward students will have to wear face coverings next year if they can’t stay 6 feet away from their classmates.
When they’re seated at their desks, they can take them off, according to a plan presented on Tuesday. That’s because desks are set to be spread 6 feet apart, reducing the size of most classes to 14 students.
Teachers would have to wear face coverings, too. The school district would give 7, and Ava, 12, protest outside of the Broward School Board headquarters. masks to teachers, but families would have to supply them to their children. The district is considering buying plastic face shields for kindergartners, who officials said need to see faces as they learn to read.
The School Board considered an assortment of options for the next school year as coronavirus is ravaging Florida and many other states. The first day of school, Aug. 19, is unlikely to be delayed, according to the district staff, because students will lose learning days before state assessments and employees would miss out on paychecks.
That leaves less than two months to figure out how to schedule classes, one of the board’s biggest headaches. Some parents have said they are going to keep their children home as the pandemic rages, and the district will offer the option to learn online to any families that choose it.
Another option, known as the hybrid model, is under consideration: Students would spend part of each week in school and the rest of the week learning online.
The district is also considering opening school the way it used to be, five days a
week. A group of parents urged this option outside the meeting Tuesday morning, pressing the board to take their work schedules and their children’s academic and social needs into consideration. They said the hybrid model will not work for parents with jobs outside the home.
“How are employees going to be able to work if they have to stay home with their children?” parent Nancy Tanner asked the board.
But the school district staff said it would be hard to get all students back in the classroom and maintain social distancing. The district would have to hire 4,614 additional teachers to accommodate class sizes of 14 students. This would cost $359 million, according to district calculations.
The board looked at a plan in which half of students, whose last names begin with A through L, would go to school two days a week, while M to Z students would be in the classroom on two other days.
The days would vary each week, which board member Laurie Rich Levinson said would prove too disruptive for families.
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“You constantly have the days changing from week to week,” she said. “From a working parent’s perspective, we need to take another look at this.”
Students with special needs, such as autism or other learning disabilities, are expected to be able to attend school five days a week, although a detailed plan has not yet emerged.
Not all schools have room to socially distance their students. Cypress Bay High in Weston, with 4,700 students, one of the largest in the state, would need half its students to agree to learn online fulltime in order for the rest to come to school two days a week.
“We may have to look at additional technology at that school in particular,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said.
The district has not yet figured out who should quarantine if a teacher or student comes down with coronavirus. Runcie said it may depend on with whom the sick people had direct contact.
“We need to keep children in school to the greatest extent possible,” he said.
The board also considered growing its corps of school nurses. Of 237 schools, only 125 have registered nurses. Others have health support technicians, who are not medical professionals.