A Learning Environment: The 2020 Public School Report Card : Orlando Family Magazine

A Learning Environment: The 2020 Public School Report Card

Edited by: Brittany Ann Morrisey

As the new school year approaches, there remains great uncertainty as to what exactly it will look like as the state grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, it’s evident that our public high schools will be doing their best to keep students engaged and provide them the best learning experience possible while also preparing them for whatever their futures may hold. For our annual report card, we gleaned information from the Florida Department of Education and gathered data to see how our local schools match up in key areas like average SAT scores and graduation rates. We’ve also taken a look at how local officials are preparing to welcome back students, whether that is in the actual classroom or through virtual means.

LEARNING THE HARD WAY
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, local school districts are giving families alternative education options for fall semester.

When students head back to school in the fall, their learning experiences will be vastly different than in previous years. Students in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties attending classes in-person will be required to adhere to new protective measures. Meanwhile, others will be learning from home because, in an effort to hinder the spread of the coronavirus through area schools, local public school boards have voted to give parents new options for their children’s education.

The options parents have been given for the fall semester are: face-to-face instruction, virtual school or a third model that allows students to learn at home but still be connected to their local public school. Seminole County Public Schools is also offering an additional “hybrid” option where students can attend school in person on a part-time basis and then make up the gap in their day with virtual learning.

Face-to-face learning will see students, teachers and staff wearing masks at schools. Students will also be spread out in classrooms when possible and custodian staff will be instructed to disinfect high-touch areas often. But questions still remain on how well these procedures will really work, including whether students will be able to effectively distance themselves. Public school leaders are still working out the details.

At a recent Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) Board meeting, Superintendent Barbara Jenkins remarked that the district was in the position of “building the bicycle as we ride it.”

Because COVID-19 cases are once again rising in Central Florida, all three counties have also pushed school start dates. Seminole County students will head back on Monday, Aug. 17; Orange County students on Friday, Aug. 21; and Osceola’s children will begin on Monday, Aug. 24.

Earlier in the summer, school boards faced a daunting decision on whether to reopen school buildings and offer face-to-face instruction at all but ultimately that judgement call was taken away from them when Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an emergency order requiring all public schools to reopen their campuses for at least five days a week.

This seemingly contradicted what Gov. Ron DeSantis had said in June about school districts having local control in deciding when to open schools.

Teresa Jacobs, who chairs the OCPS board, has expressed her frustration at the oscillating direction from state leaders.

“I have never felt that there was more lack of clarity and confusion than right now,” she said at a recent OCPS board meeting.

Orange County’s school board—which oversees the ninth largest school district by enrollment in the United States—approved its three-option reopening plan after a nearly 10-hour board meeting that received hours of public comment in-person and by phone. The comments came from students, teachers and parents who raised questions about safety and the COVID slide, which is the idea that the pandemic has caused students to lose ground in their academics.

Many commenters also gave impassioned speeches asking board members to ignore the executive order and vote their consciences.

One caller asked how many student and teacher deaths would the board members consider acceptable in reopening schools. And a number of teachers who called in spoke about how they were preparing their wills because they were scared that going back into the classroom might become a death sentence for them.

Board members expressed their own frustrations, particularly that they were not actually being given a choice on whether to keep schools closed. OCPS Associate General Counsel John Palmerini advised the board that under the law the state education board has the power to overrule local districts. In a meeting with the board, he told board members that if they were to vote to not open schools for face-to-face learning, then board members could face removal and the district could be stripped of its funding.

Ultimately, the OCPS board voted 6-2 in approval of giving parents three options for their children’s schooling. The first two options are in-person classes or Orange County’s virtual school program, which existed before the pandemic. OCPS’ third innovative option is called “LaunchED@Home” and it gives students the opportunity to attend classes online taught by teachers at their assigned school. LaunchED@Home is not the same as the distance learning that students engaged in during the spring semester.

LaunchED@Home also allows OCPS to fund schools the same as it would if students were physically in class. Should a large portion of students choose Orange County Virtual School, which is funded at a lower rate per student, then the district’s budget would take a significant hit.

Seminole, Osceola and Orange counties’ reopening plans were all submitted to the Florida Department of Education and have all been approved.

However, the OCPS board took the additional step of sending a letter to Gov. DeSantis and Education Commissioner Corcoran. The letter asks for a waiver to the emergency order, one that would allow the district to be the sole entity that determines when Orange County’s public schools can open for face-to-face instruction based on advice from local medical professionals regarding COVID-19 transmission rates in the community. At the time of publication for Orlando Family Magazine, neither the governor nor the commissioner have responded.

This article originally appeared in Orlando Family Magazine’s August 2020 issue.