Orange parents get school survey

Only question gave four options about reopening

Parents with children in Orange County’s public schools were surveyed Tuesday evening to find out whether they want their children back on campus for the coming school year or would prefer some form of “distance learning” to continue.

The telephone survey asked parents to choose from four options. Do they want a return to the traditional “face-to-face school” with new “health and safety rules” in place? A continuation of the online and other “distance learning” options put in place in March? An option that blends both online and traditional school? Or are they just not sure?

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all schools in the state closed in mid-March to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The state “will probably largely guide what we’ll be able to do” as far as reopening campuses, Orange Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said last week at an Orange County School Board meeting.

The Florida Department of Education is also surveying parents on their views of schools reopening, including whether they would prefer the usual August start time or perhaps a later one, such as after Labor Day.

In Orange, the current school year ends May 27 and the next one is to start on Aug. 10.

Parents received the onequestion phone survey between 6 and 8 Tuesday evening.

They received a call Monday evening telling them the survey was coming and what it would ask.

“We wanted to give you time to think about the options before you receive the phone survey tomorrow,” the recorded message said.

That Orange survey could help the district respond to parental concerns as it works on reopening plans and awaits state guidance, said Melissa Byrd, an Orange County School Board member.

“We thought it would be valuable to have that local input,” she said.

But based on what she’s heard from constituents, Byrd said she doubts the survey will show that a single view dominates.

Some parents feel very strongly that they want campuses to reopen and that their children need in-person classes and in-person social interactions, she said.

Others are adamant they won’t feel comfortable having their children back on campus this fall because they remain worried about the threat of the virus.

“I think it’s really a mixed bag,” she added.

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL Students walk through the courtyard of OCPS Academic Center for Excellence on the first day of classes in 2017. A survey asks Orange County parents if they want students to return in 2020 or continue “distance learning” in some form.