The Hillsborough County School Board unanimously voted Thursday to delay the upcoming school start date two weeks, from its originally scheduled date (Aug. 10) to Aug. 24.
Hillsborough County joins Pasco and Polk County in pushing schools’ start date back 14 days; Pinellas County will vote on the issue Tuesday, July 28
At the Thursday meeting, the Hillsborough school board voted down the option of e-learning only for the first nine weeks of the 2020-2021 school year. The board, however, has yet to make its final decision on whether it will open online or in-person.
Currently, the end of the fall semester is scheduled for Jan. 15, instead of Dec. 18.
“The reason I decided to teach is to see my students and watch them grow into interesting people on a day-to-day basis,” Jordan Gonzalez, who began teaching music to Hillsborough County students at the start of the 2019 school year, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
Gonzalez is one of the thousands of teachers in Hillsborough County that must return to teach in-person classes this fall after Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an executive order on July 6, requiring all school districts to reopen “brick-and-mortar schools” at least five days a week.
“Hillsborough teachers have been kept up to date and are well informed as to what the reopening will be,” Gonzalez said. “We get emails from the superintendent every other day.”
Ultimately, Gonzalez wishes the school board will opt for e-learning for the safety of children and faculty. But so far, the Hillsborough County School Board has not made its final decision on e-learning.
“It is just not safe. Even though e-learning was such a new frontier for me, I am willing to keep teaching online as long as my students are safe," Gonzalez added. When classes moved online in March, Gonzalez had trouble adjusting to an online format. “There is just something magical about in-person teaching. But public safety is and should be the number one concern.”
As the projected reopening date approaches, questions and uncertainty remains surrounding recent coronavirus case surges. Gonzalez said that there are many organizations like the teachers union that are fighting for Florida educators, as well as the local school board, which he said has been proactive in planning for the fall.
Haley Gaeser, a Hillsborough County elementary school teacher, told CL that she does not feel heard by the school board.
“If the board truly cared about its teachers the way they say they do then they would have a plan to keep them safe,” she said. “Teachers are scared; we have families and lives outside of teaching just like everyone else with jobs do—we shouldn’t have to feel like we’re going to die if we go back.”
Recently, local businesses have been supporting teachers after the order to return to schools in August was announced. Gallagher and Associates Law Firm wrote on Twitter that it will give teachers free living wills, which are usually priced at $250, according to Charles Gallagher, a partner of the St. Petersburg law firm.
“While I think it’s a nice gesture [the free wills], it really speaks volumes about the current situation,” Gaeser said. “If it was safe to go back, why would free wills be given out?”
Both Gaeser and Gonzalez cite the teachers union as a great ally for Florida educators.
On Monday, Florida’s largest teachers’ union filed a lawsuit aimed to block the return to in-person classes as coronavirus cases continue to surge. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that it is unconstitutional for the state to order schools to reopen while Florida coronavirus cases set record highs on a daily basis.
Despite backlash from educators and the union lawsuit, Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to reaffirm his push to reopen schools for in-person instruction. In a Thursday appearance on "Fox and Friends," DeSantis said teachers are “itching to get back” to the classroom.
“I know the union has its position, but a lot of teachers in Florida are itching to get back,” said DeSantis.
Hillsborough County is currently a coronavirus hotspot, alongside other areas like Miami-Dade and Orange County. Since March, 26,037 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Hillsborough County, according to the Florida Department of Health.
In an effort to make lawmakers reconsider their decision to reopen schools in the fall, teachers protested outside Hillsborough County’s Strawberry Crest High School where the State Board of Education was having a face-to-face meeting July 15 as well as Thursday’s meeting.
The Hillsborough County School Board released its re-opening plan shortly after the executive order was put into place. Addison Davis, superintendent of the Hillsborough County Schools, said plans are volatile, but currently, all teachers, faculty and students must wear face masks when in buildings and where social distancing is not possible. Special seating arrangements will accommodate social distancing inside classrooms and there will be sanitation stations throughout high-traffic areas.
Gonzalez is apprehensive but hopeful about the new school year as it will surely bring new challenges and obstacles for students and teachers alike. “Even though I would prefer e-learning, whatever the school board decides to do, I am going to do with grace and optimism,” Gonzalez said. “I am always going to be thankful to be a teacher and have the chance to one day say ‘hey man we made it out of this together.’”
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This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 6, 2020.