Gov. Ron DeSantis says it’s crucial to give parents choice when it comes to how their children will be educated during the next school year.
DeSantis’ comments came at a State Department of Education meeting Wednesday, a day after several Central Florida counties held school board meetings to discuss options.
He says consideration should be given to not only parents’ concerns but teachers’ as well, when it comes to possible coronavirus spread in brick-and-mortar classrooms.
“If you have an employee who is particularly at risk for this then by all means you have to have special accommodations that are provided. That would be true for a student too. And it would also be true for an adult employee.”
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DeSantis said his administration weighs these health risks against potential academic and developmental setbacks that students may experience as a result of online learning only.
He says he’s also sensitive to local conditions when it comes to deciding when to send students back to classrooms in the fall.
Districts in Miami-Dade County might be on a different timeline than schools in other parts of the state with fewer cases.
“I know folks are antsy about what exactly is going to happen, are we going to be in or not? You know what I would just say is as much as we’d like to have every decision made as far out in advance as possible because that is good, it lets people plan, I think making the right decision and providing the right array of options, getting it right is probably the most important thing.”
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Education Commissioner Richard Corocoran passed an executive order this week requiring public K-12 schools offer face-to-face instruction five days a week in August.
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