Do Broward school administrators realize consequences of their actions?

Have a question about South Florida schools and COVID-19? Sun Sentinel reporter Lois Solomon will find the answer. Email your question to AskLois@sunsentinel.com.

“I’ve been dying to weigh in on this for weeks, as I’ve worked in educational accountability for 30 years and consider the craven response by Broward schools’ ‘leadership’ to be breathtaking. First, if the Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal law, since when is compliance with laws at the discretion of principals? Second, why did school administrators use ambulance-chasers to dig up dirt on teachers and then use synecdoche to generalize the actions of a few to penalize the many? Third, aren’t those administrators aware that the short-term gain of this action will likely produce long-term pain, as the more dedicated teachers will seek employment elsewhere, and in the future, make the school system more likely to lose students to charter and private schools? Finally, we all want children to succeed in school, but if students remain online, they will suffer academic decline, which can potentially be remediated through interventions. Teachers with chronic conditions who do not have charitable

principals, on the other hand, face a real risk of disability and death which is likely irreversible.” — Steven Urdegar, Plantation

Whew! That was quite a rant but made some interesting points. I had to look up the word “synecdoche,” which I hadn’t heard since I was in high school and had to memorize SAT vocabulary. Oxford Languages defines it as “a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland’s baseball team”).”

Broward schools have taken a lot of heat for some recent actions, including requiring most teachers working from home to return to the classroom for the second semester. Aggravating teachers’ anger at this order, the school district scoured the Facebook pages of teachers working remotely to catch them partying, traveling and failing to wear masks at a time the educators said COVID-19 made it too risky for them to return to campus.

Here’s what the district’s

Office of Communications said in response: “In January, an independent arbitrator issued an Opinion

and Award stating Broward County Public Schools was not in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Broward Teachers Union in requiring teachers return to classrooms to meet the operational needs of schools. Principals determine if they can grant remote work requests based on each school’s operational need.”

The district added that: “Tens of thousands of BCPS students are struggling with distance learning at home, and it is clear they have to return to our brick-andmortar classrooms for in-person instruction. The good news is that we have found, as it was recently verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that by continuing to wear face masks, practicing physical distancing, frequent hand washing and ongoing cleaning and sanitation, we are minimizing the spread of the virus in our schools, making them safe for teachers, students and the community.”

”I’m an adult and would love to hire someone to teach me to write better and correctly. My fear is that I would hire someone online and get swindled, also not getting the right fit for me since I am 60 years old. By the way I would like to do this remotely. Can you help me?” — Marja Lenard

I asked some local literacy experts for help with this one. Kristin Calder, chief executive officer at the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, recommended the adult education departments in the Broward and Palm Beach County school districts, as well as the Community Center for Excellence in Writing at Florida Atlantic University.

“I believe they provide one-onone sessions, and I imagine it could be tailored to her needs.” Go to fau. edu/ccew. I also asked Greg Smith, executive director of the Florida Literacy Coalition. He said the coalition has a referral service that connects people with local adult education agencies, which typically include writing instruction as part of their curriculum.

“Almost all of these programs are now offering free or low-cost online classes and some do provide one-on-one tutoring using trained volunteers,” he said.

If you do hire a one-on-one tutor, make sure to check the candidate’s background and ask for references before setting up your sessions.

”My daughter was marked absent for attending virtually whensheusually attendson campus. Do you know the policy on this? It seems unfair if she is getting the same lessons as everyone else, just in a different space for that day.” — Palm Beach County parent

Your daughter’s teacher was following Palm Beach County school district policy by marking her absent. According to the school district: “If the student is assigned to in-person instruction, he/she will be counted as absent if he/she is not physically on campus and in class.”

The policy says it’s fine if she learns from home if she’s sick and you let the school know. This plan came about so each school could know approximately how many kids are going to be in the buildings each day during this time when social distancing is essential. There was some discussion about this rule in a teacher Facebook group recently, and many teachers reported their principals were flexible about this policy, while others were strict.

Broward schools also want to be notified if a brick-and-mortar student is learning from home.

“Attendance is based on the student’s presence (in-person or virtual) for each class during their scheduled class time. Parents are required to submit absentee documentation whenever their student is sick or needs to be out of school for any reason,” Broward’s rule says.

”Why is the Broward school district hiring teachers to work remotely after canceling remote assignments for some teachers already on staff ? These teachers requested this accommodation because of medical issues that make working in classrooms during the pandemic unsafe for

them.” — Kaitlyn Scully

The school district says this rumor is not true.

“The district is not hiring new full-time teachers to work remotely,” the Office of Communications told me.

About 1,700 teachers with severe health conditions, such as cancer and heart disease, had been approved to teach from their homes since October, when the district reopened for face-to-face instruction. The district ended most of these assignments on Jan. 8, permitting them to continue only if the principal said it was OK based on the needs of the school.

Principals allowed 600 of the 1,700 to continue to teach from home. The teachers union sued, but an arbitrator ruled that Broward schools can require teachers with health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic to work on campus.

So tensions are high and rumors are rampant, but this one is inaccurate, according to the district.