‘I’m scared to death.’ As Manatee district finalizes reopening plans, teachers are worried

The School Board of Manatee County will vote on reopening plans during a meeting on Tuesday evening, two days after Florida made national headlines for a record number of daily COVID-19 cases.

The Florida Department of Health reported 15,300 new infections on Sunday, surpassing New York, the previous record holder, by thousands of cases. And as of last Friday, 468 children — or 43.7 percent of those screened — tested positive for COVID-19 in Manatee County.

Tuesday’s meeting on reopening plans for the 2020-21 school year is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. In-person board meetings are still closed to the public as a precaution against COVID-19.

The meetings are broadcast on Spectrum Channel 646 and Frontier Channel 39, along with www.mstv.us. To submit a public comment, email public_comment@manateeschools.net. To contact individual board members, visit manateeschools.net, navigate to the “District” tab and click on “School Board.”

“I think, like most educators, I want to be back in the classroom,” said Kristina Rosenbaum, a local middle school teacher. “I do this for a living because I’m passionate about what I do. There’s nothing I love more than working with students.”

“That being said, I’m scared to death to go back into the classroom,” she continued. “I have many friends who work in the health care industry, who make no bones about how severely this disease affects people.”

Rosenbaum said she was scared to contract COVID-19 at school and then transmit the disease to a vulnerable person, especially since her husband works at a senior living facility. She was hopeful that board members would stray from a recent state order, requiring schools to open five days a week, and that Manatee would continue with online classes in the first quarter.

Online learning presented a host of obstacles: students need internet access, computers and daily meals, while teachers struggle to capture students’ attention in the digital classroom. However, online learning was less of a risk than in-person classes during a pandemic, and it was feasible with enough hard work and creativity, Rosenbaum said.

In his recent order, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran highlighted the important role that schools play in their communities. Along with an education, schools provide students with food, social interaction and therapeutic services, and they provide parents with the freedom to work in the daytime.

Rosenbaum agreed that schools have increasingly met the needs of their communities. However, she said, the short-term problems created by COVID-19 should not overshadow the long-term repercussions of opening too soon.

“You can’t have social development with students who are sick in the hospital with COVID-19,” Rosenbaum said. “You can’t have one-on-one interactions with kids who have brought the virus home and now both of their parents are incapacitated. It’s a valuable argument but there is a bigger picture that a lot of people aren’t seeing.”

In her original plan, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders proposed a full return for elementary students and a hybrid schedule for secondary students, meaning the older students would rotate between in-person and online learning each week. The hybrid model allows for more social distancing and disinfecting in the schools.

Her plan is largely the same, but it now gives students the option to return five days a week, regardless of their grade level, aligning Manatee’s plan with the recent state order. And whatever the final plan may be, students will always have the option to continue with full-time online learning, the superintendent has said.

Sitting alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday, during a news conference in Bradenton, Florida Senate President Bill Galvano said the order was non-negotiable. Galvano, R-Bradenton, said that school boards “cannot ignore this order.”

Charlie Kennedy, the school board’s vice chair, was adamant that Manatee should move forward with its original plans, including the hybrid model. School board members Scott Hopes and Dave Miner recently said they would stray from the order if local conditions worsened.

Rosenbaum was hopeful that Manatee would re-evaluate its plans, pushing back the Aug. 10 start date and challenging the order to reopen five days a week. In the meantime, she was preparing for a year filled with new expectations and unknowns.

“I’ve practiced with the mask and the face shield,” she said. “I stood in the mirror and tried to talk. It’s very hard to engage somebody’s attention when you can’t have facial expressions. I think a big part of what we do as teachers is sort of the theater of engagement. We have to show that we’re excited about a subject.”

In a letter to the school board, sent on Monday afternoon, about 85 Manatee County physicians urged the district to require masks in the new school year. Dr. Cassandra Hafner, a family practice doctor with Cooper Family Medical, coordinated the letter.

If the school district plans to reopen five days a week, it should require masks “at the very least,” Hafner said in an interview. She pointed to guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which also included social distancing, regular cleaning, temperature screenings and the use of outdoor classes and lunches.

“While a lot of us don’t agree with an August reopening, we recognize that’s not necessarily a decision the Manatee County School Board can make on their own, especially with push from both the governor and the president to reopen as normal,” she said. “We’re trying to make requests that we know are within their power.”

State and federal officials have pointed to guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which stated that “all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”

The organization cited many of the benefits that schools provide, and it said “the importance of in-person learning is well-documented.” However, in a follow-up statement Friday, the organization said that “schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be compelled to reopen against the judgment of local experts.”

“I think that, in some parts of the country and even some parts of our state, that it might be safe right now,” Hafner said. “As Florida and Manatee County is currently projecting, I’m not sure the Aug. 10 start date is necessarily realistic unless things change drastically by then.”

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 4:24 PM.