After seven long months of online learning, students will get the option of in-person instruction. Starting on October 14th, Broward County Public Schools will be open to all kindergarten, first, second, sixth, and ninth-grade students who choose to attend. All other grade levels will be able to return starting on October 20th.
The school board will be sending out a survey for parents to fill out, indicating if their child will be attending in-person learning and if they require transportation.
“Schools should take into consideration the number of students that will be riding the bus and figure out a plan where social distancing is still possible,” sophomore James Degelsmith said.
Over 70,000 students in the county rely on school buses each year, and the school board expects that number to be cut in half. Those 30,000+ students who remain will be seated one student per row and asked to take another form of transportation if possible.
“We will be taking a relaxed approach to the CDC guidelines, like many of our neighboring counties have done,” Chief Strategy and Operations Officer Maurice Woods said.
Schools will continue to provide lunches, but the county is unsure as to whether they will distribute pre-packaged meals or serve them in the cafeteria. Although it is not yet known what they will decide, the school board will require students to eat lunch inside their classrooms.
“Eating lunch at school will be disappointing to me because we won’t be able to talk with our friends like we used to do,” junior Kahlila Torres said.
While the school board may be confident with their decision to rely on the survey to make a plan, many Broward County parents, teachers, and staff feel quite the opposite.
“How little do you value your teachers that we have to choose between our life and homelessness,’’ said David Flesicher, a language arts teacher at West Broward High School.
The board does recognize that they are giving little time for teachers, staff, and students to prepare for the shift back to in-person learning, so they are considering moving a teacher planning day to October 13th and making the ninth and 12th half days.
“This is not a problem for me because I have been teaching the same subjects for many years,” Social Studies Department Head James Scales said.
The school board is also waiving the 90-day wait period for teachers’ insurance and will be paying teachers coronavirus sick leave, even if they do not qualify for paid sick leave.
When students come back, there will be sanitization areas and CDC signage up around the school to inform students about CDC regulations. Teachers are also preparing their classrooms to allow for proper social distancing to make sure their students are as safe as possible.
“Every student will wear their mask, the desks in my classroom will be spaced, hand sanitizer will be available, and I plan to clean my classroom each night,” Scales said.
Many school board employees pushed for a start in January as the second semester begins to give more time to students and staff.
In response to this suggestion, Chief Financial Officer Judith Marte stated that the county had only been given funding by the state government to stay online until October 16th.
Deerfield Beach High School students are a bit wary of attending and are not sure if it’s the right call.
“I’m worried about going back,” senior Kody Gelkse said. “I know that I can take care of myself and stay safe, but I doubt others have the same initiative.”
The decision to stay at home is almost unanimous amongst the upperclassmen students. Some freshmen, however, see things a bit differently because it would be their first time in a high school environment.
“I think freshmen should be able to go back to school because we haven’t explored the school yet,” freshmen Saryna Butler said.
Although many have different opinions, we can all agree that the 2020-21 school year is going to be an interesting one for all.
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