COVID-19 has made January a tough month for teachers in Okaloosa County

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NICEVILLE — January has been a tough month in Northwest Florida as COVID-19 numbers spiked across the region.

Nowhere have things been tougher, it could be argued, than in area schools, where already existing shortages of bus drivers and substitute teachers have been exacerbated by educators, administrators and staff having to miss days due to illness.

In the final three days of last week, Okaloosa County's "instructional absences" totaled 200, 189 and 200, according to statistics compiled by the School District's human resources department.

Those numbers represent approximately 10% of the district's 1,904 teachers missing school last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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All the absences cannot be attributed to COVID-19, and district numbers also factor in teachers who stay home to tend to sick family members. Still, it's a hint of the impact COVID is having when this year's numbers are compared to instructional absences for this time of year pre-coronavirus.

Okaloosa County Deputy Superintendent Steve Horton said January absences in years prior to 2020 tended to run between 50 and 60.

School Superintendent Marcus Chambers applauded the resilience of the county's educators.

“I am continually amazed by our teachers, administrators, and support professionals who keep our schools flourishing despite the latest increase in COVID-19 cases," he said in a statement issued last Friday. "District level staff have also been in schools providing help where needed, and I believe that we will begin to see a downward trend in COVID-19 cases soon.”

Although there are some signs that the omicron variant may have peaked in Florida and new infections have begun to drop off, the week of Jan. 9-15 was particularly bad in Okaloosa County. There were 3,353 cases reported in that week alone, a 75% increase from the week before.

For the same time period, Walton County reported 886 new cases, representing a 54.6% increase from the previous week.

The toll on school staff was so high that week at Okaloosa Academy and Walton Academy, two charter schools run by the Radar Group, that administrators decided to close for two days.

"We actually closed school because half the staff was sick," said Ray Sansom, the executive director of the schools.

Sansom said a little more than half of the 19 who make up staffs at the two schools were out, primarily due to COVID-19.

"We didn't feel it was safe for the staff and the students," he said. "We have to think of their safety first and foremost."

With a long weekend thanks to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Sansom said the two days the academies shut down allowed for "an extensive COVID cleaning" at both schools.

The number of staff illnesses had dropped to two at Okaloosa Academy after the holiday, Sansom said. And a request has been made to local school districts to add two days to the end of the school year to compensate for those lost due to the shutdown.

Jordan Appelberg, the president of Okaloosa County's Florida Education Association branch, said the teachers union is trying to monitor the COVID situation, but home testing has made it difficult to keep accurate numbers.

She said school staffing shortages due to illness have been eased somewhat in that so many students are also missing days of school. But a severe shortage of substitutes in the district has not helped.

"Subs are hard to find. Some don't want to work right now," Appelberg said.

There have been cases in which teachers have been required to combine classes, or teachers, administrators and other educational staff have been called in during a planning period or other out-of-classroom time to watch a class, Appelberg said.

“The challenges brought on by the pandemic are great, but our mandate to continue to educate our students is greater still. We’re undeterred in our mission," Chambers said in his statement.

A memorandum of understanding has been negotiated between the union and the Okaloosa County School District that pays teachers extra for spending a full day with a combined class.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: COVID cases in Okaloosa rose in January, causing issues for teachers