TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s largest school district will begin the fall semester with remote classes, joining others that are keeping campuses closed even as Gov. Ron DeSantis insists the state will have in-person learning.
Miami Dade County schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced the move Wednesday, a day after nearby Monroe County said it would rely on digital instruction for the immediate future. School leaders in Broward and Palm Beach counties, which along with Miami are the state’s hottest Covid-19 spots, also intend to start the school year with online courses.
Despite four large counties opting to shutter campuses as the state works to beat back the coronavirus, DeSantis and state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran were unwavering in their confidence that brick-and-mortar schools will reopen their doors this fall.
The DeSantis administration has said it will withhold state funding from schools that don’t physically open, but the Republican governor on Wednesday downplayed the possibility of districts actually losing funds.
“I don’t think you’re going to have a school district in the state that is going virtual for the whole semester,” DeSantis said during an education roundtable at a special needs school in Clearwater.
A viral surge in Miami Dade County has led the district to keep its nearly 350,000 students away from campus until at least October, Carvalho told school board members Wednesday.
Miami Dade reported 2,801 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, bringing its total to 112,261 cases and 1,455 deaths since the outset of the pandemic.
The state as a whole posted a record 216 Covid-19 deaths Wednesday and 9,446 new cases, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Carvalho said the school district will decide on Sept. 30 whether classes can reconvene starting Oct. 5. Miami Dade, along with all of Florida’s school districts, has planned a mix of online and in-person classes during the largely delayed 2020-21 school year, pushed by an emergency order from the Department of Education.
“We are prepared, but we must delay,” Carvalho said.
Miami Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties remain in the most restricted re-opening phase in Florida.
Monroe County, which includes Key West, also will keep schools closed, even though it has had drastically fewer cases compared to other districts. Monroe reported 22 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday and 1,171 cases overall. There have been six reported deaths linked to the coronavirus in Monroe.
Monroe’s approximately 8,800 students will be enrolled in strictly online classes at least for the first few weeks of the school year, incoming Superintendent Theresa Axfor announced Tuesday.
“Our concern for the safety of our students and our staff, along with advice from the health department, have led us to this decision,” Axford said.
Monroe’s closure could test Florida’s broad school re-opening emergency order, a policy that has been met with confusion and opposition. The Florida Education Association is suing the state over the order while local school boards jockey for the power to control school closures.
Asked by reporters if the order will cause schools that don’t re-open to lose funding, DeSantis and Corcoran on Wednesday reiterated that the policy gives districts flexibility to deploy online courses, which current law does not. Both have maintained that schools need to open to give parents the option of face-to-face classes.
“I’m confident there’s going to be in-person [classes] throughout the state,” DeSantis said.
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