‘Our lives are on the line.’ Group protests reopening of schools in Manatee, Sarasota

A grassroots movement has sprung from the rising concern for teachers and students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tiffany Pepsin, a Manatee County resident and a high school teacher in Sarasota County, joined a Facebook group for mothers, where parents and teachers discussed their expectations for the 2020-21 school year. Fearful of the spiking COVID-19 cases in Florida, the group decided that online learning was the only reasonable option in August.

Pepsin organized event pages on social media, calling for a demonstration outside of the school administration buildings in Manatee and Sarasota counties. The school boards in both counties were expected to make vital decisions about the upcoming school year.

The agenda in Manatee County included a possible delay to the start of school, from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17. To comply with a recent order from the state, the plan will likely include an option for students to return five days a week, along with the option to continue full-time online classes. The draft plan also includes a hybrid option, which includes both in-person and online learning each week.

“Without a shadow of doubt, opening schools back up would cause another spike,” Pepsin said.

She expected about a dozen moms to attend and voice their concerns on Tuesday, but with help from friends and other concerned residents, she said the event took on a life of its own.

“It turned into a grassroots movement with parents, teachers and community members all joining forces to keep our community safe,” she said. “I think a lot of people aren’t realizing, it’s not just teachers that will be impacted, it’s not just students that will be impacted, it’s our whole community.”

While she was unsure how many people attended the demonstration at Sarasota’s district building, she said every parking space was filled with honking cars and sign-wielding demonstrators. The protest was supported by local officials who allowed the residents to gather and voice their concerns, Pepsin said.

The group expected resistance during its demonstration at Manatee’s district building, 215 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton. The protest was scheduled for 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, one hour before the school board’s meeting.

Pepsin said she asked permission to hold the protest, as she did in Sarasota, but a security official with the School District of Manatee County told her the parking lot was off limits.

As an alternative, she said, the group planned to drive around the district property and push for their goal of having students remain online until community spread and COVID-19 cases drop.

“We’re a bunch of moms,” said Pepsin, who also has four children in area schools. “This all went peacefully here. We’re not trying to cause any trouble. We just want to be heard.”

While masks and social distancing are effective, Pepsin said, they may be hard if not impossible to enforce in a crowded school, especially among students of different ages.

During their meeting on Tuesday evening, Manatee school board members were expected to weigh their own concerns with the recent mandates from Tallahassee. The state’s education commissioner, Richard Corcoran, ordered that all students have the option to return five days a week.

Last Sunday, about one week after Corcoran issued the emergency order, Florida smashed the national record for daily COVID-19 cases. And on Tuesday morning, hours before the school board meeting, The Florida Department of Health reported another 153 cases in Manatee County, while the local death toll stood at 140.

Almost 470 local children — or 43.7 percent of those screened — have tested positive for COVID-19. Parents, educators and board members have expressed concerns about students contracting the virus and spreading it among their at-risk families and teachers.

At a recent meeting, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders also reported that more than 350 district employees were affected by the pandemic since mid-March, when few people were on campus. They either contracted the virus or interacted with someone who tested positive.

“Our lives are on the line, and I know that sounds dramatic, but it really isn’t,” Pepsin said on Tuesday.

“It is real. This is actually happening,” she continued. “There are people actually dying. There are people who are on ventilators. There are people who might have long-term effects for the rest of their life because of this. And this is such a novel virus, we don’t even know what those long-term effects are going to look like.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 4:23 PM.