MANATEE COUNTY – Education officials differ on whether schools must reopen for in-person learning in August as recently ordered by Florida Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Richard Corcoran.
Last week, Manatee County school board members discussed and debated reopening schools at a time when COVID-19 cases continue to increase. And three of the five board members questioned the legality of Corcoran’s emergency order.
During Saturday’s press conference at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Manatee) also weighed in on the debate.
According to Corcoran’s July 6 emergency order, EO 2020-06, “Upon reopening in August, all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools at least five days per week for all students.”
The order notes the reopening requirement is also subject to advice and orders from the Florida Department of Health, local health departments and future executive orders.
“Absent these directives, the day-to-day decision to open or close a school must always rest locally with the board or executive most closely associated with a school,” the order says.
The DOE order and the amended school reopening plan presented by School Superintendent Cynthia Saunders were discussed for two hours and 45 minutes during the school board’s Thursday, July 9 workshop.
The amended plan previously discussed on June 25 now addresses the DOE order and is scheduled for an official school board vote during the Tuesday, July 14 special meeting that begins at 5:45 p.m. If approved by the school board, the plan must be submitted for DOE approval by July 31. Tuesday’s meeting will be livestreamed at manateeschools.net and broadcast live on Frontier channel 39 and Spectrum channel 646.
Saunders said a DOE-approved reopening plan would apply to all public, private and charter schools in Manatee County, including Anna Maria Elementary School in Holmes Beach. If the school board delays the opening of school buildings, the academic year will begin with online distance learning.
Saunders said the amended plan represents a safe reopening model that complies with the state’s expectations and addresses the concerns of parents, teachers and the community. The plan allows parents to decide if their children, regardless of grade level, attend classes in person or at home.
“There will be some flexibility. That is critical because we know at any given time that we may have to close a school. If those situations happen, online and other methods of instruction can count in the 180-day requirement of student instruction,” Saunders said.
Board member Rev. James Golden asked if a recent survey of parents’ preferences regarding in-school learning versus at-home learning provided specific input from those in the five zip codes with the highest number of COVID cases. Saunders said the 20,000 survey responses were not categorized by zip code, but due to recent developments, another survey will be conducted.
Saunders told the board more than 350 school district staff members at more than 40 sites have already been directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19, but with no fatalities.
Board member Charlie Kennedy said, “We would be crazy to reopen schools right now. We’ve had 350 employees affected and the schools are not even open. We have multiple COVID cases and even more who are in quarantine. If you throw 500 or 600 kids back on a campus, or 250 to 300, I fear the explosions of cases we will see not just in our student body but in our teachers and staff – and then mushrooming out to all the people they live with.”
Kennedy noted the school district is self-insured and an outbreak among staff members could impact the district’s health insurance fund.
Regarding the responsibilities of the citizen-elected school board members, Kennedy said, “This phony emergency order, does anybody on the board have any willingness to push back on this with other school boards? How does an unelected political appointee have the power to issue orders telling constitutional officers what to do? We are the ones in charge here. I’m not sure that would hold up to a legal challenge.”
Dr. Bencie’s insight
Florida Department of Health/Manatee County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Bencie attended the workshop and provided an overview of COVID cases reported in Manatee County, including 190 new cases reported the previous day.
“Those are individual cases. There’s 4,266 people that we’ve identified with COVID in our community. The percent positive in the last two weeks has been 11.8%. In the past seven days, it’s gone up to 12.4%. Yesterday, one day alone, was the highest recorded in Manatee County: 20.4% positive of those tested. Those are not repeat tests,” Bencie said last week.
“Schools will be closed down as soon as they open if this continues in our community. Our numbers are going in the wrong direction. Everyone in our community needs to be involved to make this a successful plan,” Bencie said.
Constitutional authority
Citing the Florida Constitution, board member Dave Miner said, “Article 9, Section 4b says the school board, the constitutional officers, control the education in Manatee County. The buck stops with us and I believe we have the authority to say there’s not going to be public school in Manatee County for the next month. The blood is on us for anybody who suffers from this. At the same time, we’re supposed to be providing public education for all the children here and that’s the rock and the hard place that the five constitutional officers sitting up here have to deal with.”
Miner said he endorses the superintendent submitting a reopening plan to the state, but he said the plan should reference the school board’s constitutional authority.
“If we continue to go south in a significant way, I think we ought to have another meeting to say we’re going to shut down until we see it significantly better. It’s our call,” he added.
Golden asked if the plan submitted to DOE could provide the option to wait until after Labor Day in September to reopen the schools to students.
“The order says August,” Saunders responded. “School has to begin in August unless the commissioner approves otherwise in the plan submitted. They’re talking in the traditional sense of opening up brick and mortar. Our school can be defined for 180 days of brick and mortar and/or eLearning to constitute the required number of hours of instruction we are required to deliver. We can begin instruction in a different context of delivery and still qualify if our plan is approved.”
Regarding the students, Saunders said, “For their mental health, for their academic health, we need to try to open the schools up and see how we can perform and then reassess.”
Board member Dr. Scott Hopes cautioned against implementing a plan that brings students back inside the schools in August.
“The way this pandemic is behaving we’re going be dealing with it until the end of the year at least. Our decisions are not going to get any easier whether we start before Labor Day or after Labor Day. Mr. Miner is correct. The decision is ours and we have that responsibility,” he said.
Hopes said the situation presents an opportunity for a public health campaign that stresses community cooperation to help contain the virus.
“We’ve got at least half of our student population whose parents say we want our kids back in school. That’s a motivator. We have the technology to access every family that has a child in our school district. If you want your children to start school on the 10th, we need you to do your part. We immediately move forward with a public health education campaign to reach these families and bombard them with a public health education campaign that will lead to us being able to implement our reopening plan,” he said.
Kennedy concurred and said the spread of the virus could be better contained if everyone was on the same page.
“But unfortunately, we’re not. We have another government entity in town (the Manatee County Commission) that is not willing to put a mandatory mask order in place. We all want the same thing. We just disagree on how to do it,” Kennedy said.
DeSantis, Galvano weigh in
During Saturday’s press conference, The Sun asked Gov. DeSantis if he feels the school board is compelled to follow Corcoran’s emergency order.
“Obviously, the local counties are instrumental in this. The school boards need to be involved. It’s got to be a collaborative effort. I think the main thing is what’s in it for the kids? What harm is going to be done by continuing to keep them out of school? From a student perspective, the risk is low. There’s just not a lot of evidence that they’re doing a lot with community transmission. At the same time, if a parent doesn’t feel comfortable and they want to offer distance learning, I believe in school choice and this would be another one,” DeSantis said.
When asked a second time if the school board is compelled to follow the emergency order, DeSantis deferred to Galvano.
“The answer is yes,” Galvano said. “The DOE order cannot be ignored and it needs to be adhered to. Having said that, all the points the governor made about the choice and the decision making and the safeguards are encompassed in that order. It also includes a collaboration with the Department of Health, but school boards cannot ignore this. The order says five days availability, brick and mortar schools at full capacity.”
