Schools may cancel classes on vote day
With 118 campuses serving as polls, security a concern.
Schools Superintendent Donald Fennoy is seeking to close schools to students on Aug. 28, clearing the way for voters to cast their ballots on Primary Election Day without risking the welfare of children.
Of 478 polling locations in Palm Beach County, BE INFORMED. BE EDUCATED.
Get frequent updates on education news in Palm Beach County and beyond. Join the conversation at our Facebook group: Extra Credit Palm Beach County schools. 118 are within schools, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said. Should the School Board vote in favor of Fennoy’s recommendation Wednesday,
the district would declare a teacher workday on that date, requiring open campuses but giving students a pass to stay home.
A majority of Palm Beach Count y ’s public schools double as polling places. And for years, Bucher ’s offiffice has worked with district offifficials to balance the need for poll access with campus safety. In 2010, the district followed the lead set in counties to the south and declared a teacher workday and student holiday for the General Election.
Back then, the big gest issue was traffiffic safety as parents, buses and students on foot or bike arrived at schools as early as voters, Bucher recalled.
As concerns about student safety grew, Bucher said emphasis was put on placing the polls in places distant from classrooms, in areas that had an entrance
facing the parking lot and where poll workers could manage the comings and goings of voters.
“We have changed things up,” Bucher said. “We try to keep it in a place where (voters) don’t mingle with students,” Bucher said.
But, she said, the shooting in Parkland put an even higher priority on securing campuses from strangers.
In the spring, the board approved cle ar ing c ampuses for the November midterm election on Nov. 6 by pushing back a teacher workday to that Tuesday. Now, primary day is in play.
“Elections are the one or two days a year where you defifinitely can’t control who is coming on campus, so you need to be ext ra cautious,” said Justin Katz, president of the teachers’ union. Katz said the union i s i n f avor of c re at i ng a teacher work day on Aug. 28, particularly since the proposal doesn’t alter the rest of the calendar.
Should the board approve the change, the only day in the school calendar that would still see voters and students crossing paths on campus would be during spring municipal elections.
“Because it has the least t urnout and i s t he l e as t impactful to schools, that’ll be t he l ast to fal l , ” Katz predicted.