Florida teachers and Democrats say it would be reckless to reopen schools now as the number of coronavirus cases in Florida surges. 

They spoke out Monday on a conference call with reporters as Vice President Mike Pence visited South Florida. 

The teachers and Democrats said the Trump and DeSantis administrations have left school leaders with — as they put it — impossible decisions over how to manage school reopenings. 

Among those on the call was Keegan Schlake, a high school teacher in Orlando. He says teachers want to get back in the classroom but are fearful.   

“In a typical year I see about 150 students cycle through my classroom door every day, and thousands shoulder-to-shoulder in the hallways. Schools are not designed for social distancing. My classroom physically cannot hold 25 students at a time, with all of them being six feet apart.” 

Vice President Mike Pence was in South Florida to mark the beginning of clinical trials at the University of Miami on a potential coronavirus vaccine.