Broward schools maintain reopening date, despite pressure
Broward schools plan to welcome students back to campus on Oct. 14 and 20, and no sooner, despite the latest pressure from Florida’s education commissioner.
The School Board agreed to those dates on Sept. 22, but on Friday, Commissioner Richard Corcoran created uncertainty by sending a letter to Superintendent Robert Runcie saying he has “grave concerns" about how long it was taking.
Corcoran ordered Runcie to explain why the district can’t reopen by Oct. 5. Broward’s reason: the state has already approved a later reopening.
“I don’t understand all the pressure to rush, rush, rush,” Broward School Board member Rosalind Osgood said. “We plan to stick with the dates we communicated to the public.”
Miami-Dade County, which plans to have all students back on campus by Oct. 21, received a similar letter from Corcoran. All other Florida school districts have already opened for face-to-face learning, including Palm Beach County.
It remains to be seen which side will prevail in this latest round of a months-long tug-of-war. Corcoran and his boss, Gov. Ron DeSantis, have demanded schools open for face-to-face learning, saying the benefits far outweigh any risk of COVID-19. South Florida school districts have argued they need more time due to the severe impact COVID-19 has had in their counties.
Broward officials say the Oct. 14 and 20 dates are consistent with their reopening plan, approved in early August by the Department of Education, which Corcoran oversees. The earliest start date is for pre-K and kindergarten students, first graders, sixth graders, eighth graders and some special needs students. The majority of students would start Tuesday, Oct. 20, following a teacher planning day on Oct. 19.
“We had a date, and [Corcoran] approved that," Board member Robin Bartleman said. “We want to do this right.”
In a letter to Corcoran, Runcie said the start dates were “reached with extensive parent, staff, and community input as well as multiple public health professionals.”
Cheryl Etters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said she was checking to see whether Broward’s decision would be acceptable to the commissioner, but she hadn’t provided an answer by late Monday afternoon.
In his letter to Broward, Corcoran said the delay hurts kids academically, including those with disabilities and ones struggling academically.
“It is also harmful for students who are experiencing violence, abuse, and food insecurity in their homes going unnoticed, many of whom were already struggling to close the achievement gap and will now fall even further behind,” Corcoran wrote. “These are urgent circumstances we cannot, and will not, ignore.”
It’s unclear what would happen if Corcoran doesn’t accept Broward’s response. Some school districts, including Palm Beach and Hillsborough, said they were worried the state would slash funding if they delayed their school openings too long, so opened sooner than they would have preferred.
Osgood said she’s willing to go to court against DeSantis if his administration withholds funding.
“I think public will have a major problem if they try to take away dollars,” Osgood said. “It’s not Gov. DeSantis’s money. It’s the taxpayers' money.”
The School Board meets Tuesday starting at 10 am., and Runcie is expected to address the issue. In Miami-Dade County, Carvalho plans to meet with his School Board to discuss whether to change their reopening dates.
Miami-Dade announced a staggered reopening starting Oct. 14 with all students back by Oct. 21. But unlike Broward, those dates are later than what’s in their state approved reopening plan, which set an Oct. 5 target date.
In addition to pressure from the state, school districts have faced competing pressures by teachers' unions, which have urged them remain online only for the rest of the semester. Preliminary results of a survey in Broward showed as many as a third of teachers said they would resign or take leave rather than return to face-to-face classes. Teachers have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to complete the survey.
The letter from Corcoran came the same day DeSantis, amid declining infection rates statewide, fully opened the state and ordered cities and counties to stop enforcing fines for people who refuse to wear masks or adhere to other COVID-19 restrictions.
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