What will ‘back to school’ look like in Manatee? The public will soon have their say

The School Board of Manatee County has reserved two hours for public comment on Thursday, during a meeting on the reopening of schools, but the time for sign-ups is running out.

Manatee will hold public comment between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday. People who register before 5 p.m. on Wednesday will receive two minutes for their comments, according to a news release.

To maintain social distancing, the district will open several locations for those who signed up and agreed to the safety guidelines, connecting residents with the school board via a Microsoft Teams video conference. Visitors will need a mask or other face covering, and they can expect to undergo a temperature check and security screening at each location.

Comments are limited to the topic of reopening schools in the 2020-21 school year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Board members will grapple with the topic of masks, safe bus transportation and the partial or full reopening of schools, among other issues.

To register and make an in-person comment, visit manateeschools.net, click on “Back to School Plans and Workshop” and follow the link for reservations. To submit a comment in writing, send an email to public_comment@manateeschools.net.

Gina Messenger, the board chair, said she hoped to address the concerns of parents and teachers in the final plan, whatever it may be.

“Public comment is vital in all of our deliberations,” she said. “We’re there to represent the community, and we’re there to listen to the community.”

The five locations for public comment are spread between Bradenton and Palmetto:

• Bayshore High School, 5401 34th St. W., Bradenton.

• Lakewood Ranch High School, 5500 Lakewood Ranch Blvd.

• Palmetto High School, 1200 17th St. W., Palmetto.

• Southeast High School, 1200 37th Ave. E., Bradenton.

• The School Support Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

What to expect and how to watch

Thursday’s meeting starts at 10 a.m. and focuses entirely on the reopening of schools in August, though a final decision will come sometime after the meeting. Superintendent Cynthia Saunders recently said she wanted to inform parents of the district’s plan by early July.

Meetings are broadcast on Spectrum Channel 646 or Frontier Channel 39, and Manatee Schools Television will stream the meeting at www.mstv.us. Residents can also watch the meeting on their Apple TV or Roku devices by downloading the “Cablecast Screenweave” application and selecting “Manatee Schools Television.”

Board members will consider the public comments, along with thousands of responses to a recent questionnaire. More than 11,300 people — 55 percent of those responding — preferred a full return to school, according to the district survey.

Another 21 percent preferred a “blended schedule,” meaning students would rotate between in-person and online learning each week, allowing for more social distancing. The third option — a full-time continuation of online learning — was the least popular.

However, regardless of the school board’s final decision, the superintendent said all parents would have the option to continue with online learning. In the recent survey, more than 3,000 people said their children would remain in the digital classroom if Manatee reopened its campuses.

And if schools were to reopen, safety measures would still be in place. The school board recently approved up to $325,000 in spending for the purchase of cloth masks, but it remained unclear if students and employees would use the masks full time, or only in crowded areas, such as hallways.

Charlie Kennedy, the board’s vice chair, said he would address the contentious issue at Thursday’s meeting. Kennedy said he felt masks should be required on campus, and that face shields would be a worthy alternative for young children and students with special needs.

“Whether it’s a face shield or a mask, it doesn’t really matter to me,” Kennedy said. “As long as there’s something to keep those aerosols from spraying around the room.”

“Even if you have 6 feet of social distance, there is a school of thought, which I learn toward, that we should be requiring masks,” he continued. “This is a temporary measure, we’re going to get through this and you wear a mask for the protection of others. This only works if we’re all in this together.”

Children and young adults could unknowingly spread COVID-19 in their schools, passing the illness to their at-risk parents, grandparents and teachers. Scott Hopes, a school board member and an epidemiologist, said masks were among several options to curb the spread, along with temperature checks and social distancing.

“A lot of the concerns that people have, unfortunately, are out of ignorance,” he said. “Health care workers and other professionals, people that work in sterile manufacturing, wear masks every single day. They don’t get asphyxiated by it.”

Hopes stressed the need for flexibility. The official plan might change before August, and it could change again during the school year, as the number of COVID-19 cases increase or decrease.

The Florida Department of Health reported 87 local cases on Monday morning, bringing the total in Manatee County to 1,977. Florida also surpassed 100,000 cases in the update.

Any plans for local schools, Hopes said, would align with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the number of local COVID-19 cases.

“We start opening things up and people let their guard down, we’re going to see an increase in cases,” Hopes said.

This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 2:02 PM.