Broward schools plan to open Aug. 19 with virtual classes only, barring a dramatic decline in COVID-19 infections, Superintendent Robert Runcie said.
The announcement, which School Board members supported Tuesday, follows a similar decision last week by the Palm Beach County School Board. Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho also has said his district won’t reopen until his county reaches Phase 2 of reopening.
The three South Florida counties are still in Phase 1 and won’t move to Phase 2 until after two weeks of declining cases.
“If conditions do not improve and continue to worsen, that is the only way we can educate our students while keeping them and our teachers healthy and safe,” Runcie told the School Board on Tuesday. “When conditions improve, … additional options will be introduced.”
That includes full-time or part-time on campus as well as hybrid models that combine on-campus and virtual learning.
How soon schools reopen depends on how long it takes for the county to see a sustained dropped in cases. The state has seen a huge spike in cases, including 15,300 reported Sunday, a record for any state. The state said another record Tuesday with 132 deaths, the most reported in a single day. The report may include deaths from multiple days due to lags in reporting.
“We need to impress upon the community everyone’s going to have to be part of this solution to get this pandemic under control so we’re able to safely reopen our schools,” Runcie said “That could be September or October; whenever it is, we need to be agile and ready to go to provide the educational services to students.”
The move is a reversal from the district’s initial reopening plan, which proposed a hybrid model where students attended classes in person two or three days a week, with distance learning the other days.
The news angered members of a Facebook group called “Broward Parents for the Return to School.” They’ve been pushing for a return to full-time classes five days a week. Some said they will now consider other educational options.
“What happens when private schools open 100% and everything goes great for them, and our children are left in the dust,” parent Peter Turso of Deerfield Beach posted.
Parkland parent Melissa Correnti Mager questioned why the School Board spent hours talking about a hybrid model and asked parents for feedback, only to offer the option they didn’t want.
“What a complete insult to all the parents, wasting our time with this hybrid method when this was Runcie’s agenda the entire time,” she wrote. “Charter schools and private schools looking great right now.”
But Allison Nemeth Polikoff, a math teacher at Nova Middle, said the district made the right call.
“I would love nothing more than to go back to school, but to be honest, I just don’t feel schools can meet the cleaning and sanitation requirements,” she said.
Custodians don’t have time to do more than sweep and empty the garbage in normal times, and teachers end up having to buy their own cleaning supplies.
Despite concerns from teachers and school district leaders, Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump both have said that schools should reopen five days a week and children should be there. But DeSantis said Monday that he understands some parents might disagree and that they have the right to keep their children home from school buildings.
Supporters of reopening say the risk to children is far lower than other age groups. They argue the academic, social and emotional damage to children who stay home outweighs the threat of the virus.
Board member Rosalind Osgood said she felt the federal government was “bullying” districts to try to open while their communities grapple with a health crisis.
“We can’t put people at risk to die. I won’t be a part in killing people,” she said.
Osgood, the only Black member on the board, said she’s particularly concerned because the virus has impacted the Black community disproportionately compared with other groups.
The decision was supported by three health experts who warned the district that cases in South Florida were skyrocketing. and hospitals were filling up. Dr. Stanley Marks, chief medical officer with Memorial Healthcare System, said he has 560 COVID-19 patients right now, two and a half times the previous peak in April.
“I think opening schools to face-to-face learning at this point in time would be a mistake,” Marks said. “From the standpoint of the safety of students, teachers, cafeteria workers and custodians, it would be a mistake.”
Palm Beach County schools reached a similar conclusion last week and plans to adopt a formal plan on Wednesday. That calls for distance learning to start the school year, and a phased approach to reopening. The youngest students at elementary, middle and high schools would be the first to return. These would be students in pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, sixth grade and ninth grade. Students at alternative schools and ones for students with special needs would also return after the district determines it’s safe.
“The district is proposing this manner of staggering the return of students to best address the needs first of our students in a transition year and to allow students and staff time to implement the new protocols of safety,” said Keith Oswald, deputy superintendent for Palm Beach County schools.
One big concern for all districts is what happens if there is an outbreak.
“I think it’s irresponsible to open schools and turn around and half to close them days later,” Broward School Board member Patti Good said. “To jeopardize the health of our students and staff is a risk I’m not willing to take.”
Runcie said that even though schools have been closed since mid-March and a skeleton crew has worked at schools, there have been 107 cases in the district, 81 who are district employees and the rest contractors.
