Teachers uneasy as return looms

Educators grapple with concerns amid surge

With school slated to begin next month, Broward teachers are facing a potential dilemma: return to work and risk getting sick or stay home and risk losing a job.

As COVID-19 cases continue to spread rapidly throughout the state, the Broward County School District is still debating whether to reopen brick-and-mortar classrooms when the fall semester begins on Aug. 19. With over 270,000 students and more than 14,000 teachers, Broward is home to the sixth-largest school district in the country, heightening the risk of transmission. For many teachers, that issue is weighing heavily as the school year creeps closer.

Cheryl Argent, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Coral Springs’ Coral Park Elementary, loves her students, but also notes she has three adult children at home and an immunocompromised husband. David Argent, a 56-year-old assistant principal at Coral Springs Middle, is a two-time cancer survivor who had surgery on his tongue and lymph nodes just a few months ago.

With Broward County still mulling the issue, Argent, 52, is left worrying about the risks that could come from returning to the classroom.

“I was actually crying about it this morning,” Argent said. “How are these little guys going to wear their masks? I can’t make them

wear all their shoes all day. How will I be safe?”

The Argents are hardly alone with their unease about schools physically reopening. A USA Today/Ipsos poll found that 1 in 5 teachers are unlikely to return to school if classrooms reopen in the fall. Earlier this week, the state mandated the opening of school five days a week when the new school year starts. However, the order leaves the decision to local officials based on health considerations.

Palm Beach and MiamiDade are both planning on beginning the year with online-only instruction. While Broward is expected to make a decision within the next few weeks. Superintendent Robert Runcie said Tuesday during a Broward School Board workshop that he does “not see a realistic path” to every school in the county opening five days.

“We will never compromise the health and safety of our students, teachers and staff,” Runcie added.

While a final decision has yet to be made, the school district and Broward Teachers Union are currently negotiating an array of safety issues related to in-person instruction.

“All of our teachers would love to be able to go back on campus and teach our students the way we always have if COVID wasn’t happening,” Broward Teachers Union president Anna Fusco said. “[But] I think every day that it shows COVID is increasing in its numbers and it’s got everybody concerned.”

With classes slated to resume on Aug. 19, Fusco said they’re “getting down to the wire” in terms of negotiations. The school district is likely to make a decision by its July 28 board meeting, Fusco said.

One of the key issues being discussed is what would happen to teachers who decide it’s simply unsafe to return to the class if schools were to physically reopen.

“[Teachers] might not have an underlying condition, but — ‘I’m in fear I might contract COVID and I don’t know what will happen if I do or if I bring it back to someone in my family.‘

“And we’re working on those options in negotiations in how to help and take care and secure the teachers’ jobs in some form of capacity and still be able to educate our students without entering a classroom.”

In terms of creating a safe working environment, Fusco said there are numerous hurdles that would need to first be cleared.

“[What] the layout of the schools would be with social distancing,” Fusco said. “What sanitizing products would be used, enforcement or non-enforcement of masks, how many people will be allowed [in the building] including teachers and students.

“What precautions will they take if someone tests positive for COVID? If they’ll be doing any tracing. Are they willing to hire more cleaning staff? Do they have new equipment that can handle sanitizing? All those are in our negotiations.”

Without these precautions, some teachers feel vulnerable inside their own classrooms.

“Nurses and doctors have PPE,” Argent said. “They wear hair nets and they have shields. We don’t have anything except what we will be supplying. Prior to this pandemic we would sometimes bring in our own paper towels and soap.”

For teachers of the youngest children, there are doubts about whether they can safely social distance.

Argent teaches children under 5 – she has been sneezed on, coughed on and been licked. She said she’s used to it, but it has never been deadly.

“If one child gets sick and dies that’s one too many,” Argent said. “Same with teachers.”