INSIDE: More details on Broward students’ return.

Not every student in Broward County will return to campus on Oct. 5, according to the latest version of Broward schools’ reopening plan.

The Broward school district now proposes a two-stage approach: some students would return Oct. 5, and others one week later on Oct. 12.

Staff will use the additional week to figure out how to space students with physical distance to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

The school board will discuss the plan Tuesday.

Students at elementary and K-8 schools would return Oct. 5, if the plan is finalized as it reads now. Other schools in the district that could open Oct. 5 include: Cross Creek School; The Quest Center; Bright Horizons; Wingate Oaks Center School; Whispering Pines; and Pine Ridge Alternative Center. A typical classroom can seat about 14 students while maintaining social distancing, so school staff will need to figure out how much extra space is needed for when middle and high school students return on Oct. 12, according to the document.

That’s the exact issue the schools superintendent in Palm Beach County was criticized for in a school board meeting this week.

Superintendent Donald Fennoy faced a call for his removal as he tried to explain how the return to school will look for teachers, students and staff. District administrators set those policies in the last few weeks, when they should have been figuring it out throughout the summer, according to the Palm Beach County teachers union.

Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie had recommended Oct. 5 as the target date to restart in-person learning.

Should on-campus demand exceed available space, schools will have to apply alternative reopening strategies, such as a hybrid approach to instruction or other forms of prioritization, according to the proposed reopening plan.

Many parents have complained that online learning, while improved since last spring, is still inferior to face-to-face instruction. They also say it creates hardship for working parents who must stay home to supervise their children.

But online learning will still be the norm. While parents will have the choice to keep their kids at home or send them to school, the curriculum will be the same. Teachers will teach simultaneously to students at home and those with their laptops in the classroom, district officials said.

Teachers have until Sept. 23 to fill out a survey about their plans. A survey in July found that only 30% felt comfortable returning. But the new survey says an option other than returning is to go on leave.

It’s a decision of life or death, according to what multiple teachers have told the school board.

In a video sent to the school board, Flamingo Elementary art teacher Wendi Librach said she felt she was being forced to make a decision between her life and her job. After 20 years of teaching, she had hoped to retire in a few years. But now she may be forced to leave early, she said.

“You are pushing a position that is going to become an ‘I told you so’ position. We cannot allow this to happen,” she said.

Librach, 59, and her 65-year-old husband both have underlying medical conditions, she said in the video. Even with a leave, she would not be able to afford to lose her salary and her health insurance.

“You are jeopardizing the lives of too many people,” she said. “It is too soon. Don’t let it become an ‘I told you so.’” A survey showed that Broward voters largely support waiting to reopen schools to ensure students and teachers will be safe from COVID-19.

The poll asked likely general election voters if they want to immediately reopen schools “to help students, parents and the local economy” or want to wait “until we can guarantee the health and safety of students, teachers, employees and their families,” according to a release by the Broward Teachers Union, which commissioned the poll.

The results showed 67% of voters in the county supported delaying to ensure health and safety, while 27% favored immediately reopening schools. Half felt strongly about health and safety, but only 20% felt strongly about an immediate reopening plan, the union says.