The board’s proposal would have to be approved by the state, but members hope delaying the start of school until the end of August will buy the district time to deal with COVID-19.
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The Sarasota County School Board is pushing the state for permission to delay the start of the 2020-21 school year, hoping to move the first day of school in Sarasota from Aug. 10 to Aug. 31.
The delay would give the district more planning time for dealing with COVID-19 as administrators roll out an array of new policies and procedures, and board members said the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Sarasota made it too dangerous for a full return to the classroom in less than a month.
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“Lots of moms are going to be upset we aren’t going back in time, but it’s for the right reason,” said board member Bridget Ziegler, who proposed the delay during the School Board workshop Tuesday.
In addition to the delayed opening, the board will require all students and staff to wear face coverings when schools resume. Students with special needs can receive a waiver from the coverings for educational or health reasons, but the board’s policy does not provide exemptions for personal objection to wearing a covering.
The move to push back school would have to be approved by the state Department of Education, which issued a directive on July 6 that all districts need to open schools five days a week in August.
Moving the start date was not part of the district’s original proposal for the board, but Chief Academic Officer Laura Kingsley said she had spoken with administrators in other districts who had successfully gotten approval for similar delays.
The proposed plan calls for teachers to return to school on Aug. 17, giving them an additional week of preparation before students return and requiring the district to pay them for the extra week of work. Staff who normally begin the first day of school would be asked to report on Aug. 24.
After the board discussed the proposal during their workshop, the parking lot outside of district offices filled up with teachers and opponents to a physical return to school.
The protesters mostly remained in their parked cars or slowly circled the building, honking their horns in disapproval of reopening buildings in August. Many in the group want schools to resume with online instruction and not to reopen buildings until the threat of COVID-19 has subsided.
Audrey Quale, a Philippi Shores Elementary School teacher, said even delaying the reopening until Aug. 31 was just “a drop in the bucket” and that she would be applying for a leave of absence for the year if the district does not go with an all-online start.
“If you don’t feel safe, you can’t learn,” she said.
As the teachers honked and protested, a small group of parents and students calling for schools to reopen waved signs to traffic on Tamiami Trail.
Jacqui Motroni said too many parents had to take time off of work to watch their children with schools closed, and she said teachers who were afraid of COVID-19 should either retire or take the same precautions that other essential employees have been forced to take.
“What about the people at Publix,” she said. “They go to work, and they’re scared.”
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While the protesters calling for online learning vastly outnumbered those wanting schools to reopen in the parking lot, a majority of parents in the county want a full return to schools.
Many parents are tired of the online learning model that closed out the 2019-20 school year and want a physical return to the classroom. The most recent survey showed that 74% of parents want their child to return.
A delayed start to the school year is the biggest unknown in a plan the district must submit to the DOE by July 31 for approval. The plan includes other more modest measures that are likely to be approved.
The plan would offer three options to families:
• A full return to physical school buildings, five days a week.
• Full-time virtual school through Sarasota Virtual.
• Remote learning, where children remain enrolled in their school but take their courses remotely.
The district is planning to reopen a window during which teachers can apply for a one-year leave of absence if they are not comfortable returning to school.
The makeup of remote learning classes will be largely dictated by demand and availability. Students will either be taught in a remote class, where all the other students are online as well, or in some cases the students will participate in live classes through videoconference technology.
Kingsley reiterated several times that the remote learning this year would be drastically different than the plan the district had to slap together in the spring when schools abruptly closed.
In the spring, much of the remote learning was using prepackaged online learning tools to review curriculum, students were asked to limit their time to no more than three hours per day, and teachers were extremely lenient in grading.
Students doing remote learning in the fall will follow a regular daily schedule and are much more likely to be interacting with a teacher and classmates via videoconferencing. “Remote learning” is designed for students to transition off of learning from home and return to their school, while “Virtual school” is a specific school where students enroll to to take their classes online as a more long-term program.
Students who have “choiced” into a school outside of their district would lose their spot only if they unenrolled from that school and enrolled in Sarasota Virtual. Students can do “remote” learning from the school where they are enrolled at no risk of losing their spot.
One of the main goals in the weeks before schools start is preparing teachers for the likelihood of future closures because of a COVID-19 resurgence.
“This pandemic is not going away,” said board member Jane Goodwin.
In order to prepare for students who have been exposed to the virus and who are being forced to quarantine or for entire schools being shut down, teachers will be required to use online learning platform Blackboard for all of classes.
In addition to the options, the district is introducing several safety measures to mitigate against the virus.
• The district will ramp up parent education to ensure that students who are showing any symptoms stay home.
• Classrooms will be spaced out and movement during the school day will be limited in order to control for social distancing.
• Parents will be encouraged to drive their children to school in order to avoid overcrowded buses.
The district considered options such as requiring temperature checks as students enter schools or buses, but administrators dropped the idea as the potential for bottleneck as students waiting to be checked could actually increase the risk of the virus spreading.
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Sarasota School Board wants to push back school year - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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