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What Pinellas schools must do to re-open safely | Column
The head of the Pinellas teachers union explains her concerns and her solutions.
 
Marissa Silkie-Rees, Seminole, a science teacher in Pinellas County, joined other teachers and supporters at the Pinellas County School District headquarters in Largo on July 14 in support of not returning to the classroom this fall because of the coronavirus.
Marissa Silkie-Rees, Seminole, a science teacher in Pinellas County, joined other teachers and supporters at the Pinellas County School District headquarters in Largo on July 14 in support of not returning to the classroom this fall because of the coronavirus. [ SCOTT KEELER | Times ]
Published July 21, 2020

Pinellas County Schools still plan to open on the original start date of Aug. 12. Many parents and teachers have called and written to me, worried about returning to schools under the current plan, which offers three options. One is in-person (traditional) with safety protocols, and two are virtual options, one connected to the student’s school of record (MyPCS) while the other would involve separating the child from their chosen school (Pinellas Virtual).

Nancy Velardi [ Handout ]

On the surface, these seem to be reasonable choices. The problem with the traditional option (face-to-face) is that the safety protocols do not fully meet the recommendations of most medical organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A particular problem is reducing the space between desks from a 6-foot minimum to 3 or 4 feet. The claim? This should not matter because the children will be masked all day. Every medical professional I have spoken with, including pediatric specialists, says that (1) A mask and the 6-foot physical distancing is needed, not one or the other, and (2) Most children will find it very difficult to work all day productively wearing masks.

The high school classrooms are expected to house 25 to 28 students, middle school classrooms 22, and elementary classrooms 18 to 20. Those numbers are far too large to properly physical distance the children for their optimal safety.

The schools are the centers of the communities, and the spread of the virus will not stay isolated in the schools, which is horrific enough, but will be brought home to the teachers’ and students’ families and thus spread throughout the surrounding communities.

Other counties are challenging the emergency order that demands schools open in the traditional manner of all children attending five days a week in these crowded conditions. Until we see a consistent decline in the number of cases for a full two weeks, a positivity rate well below 10 percent and moving toward 5 percent, declining hospitalizations, increased ICU bed availability and a two-week decline in fatalities, Pinellas County Schools should follow Palm Beach, Orange, Broward and Miami Dade counties and begin our school year with a completely synchronous virtual schedule.

As president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, I speak for many students, parents and teachers who have reached out to me in fear for themselves and their families. And as a recent teacher, I am terrified for the children, both for the physical ramifications of this virus and its aftereffects, and for the psychological damage they may suffer if they experience many losses in their young lives. Children will also suffer psychologically when they are brought together, but told they cannot play together, they cannot hug and must remain masked most of the time. Their natural inclinations will be denied and they will not fully understand why.

Older children, especially teens, are naturally questioning and somewhat defiant as they grow into their adulthood. They will be difficult to keep masked for an entire day of seven different periods for six or more hours.

When dealing with the lives of children, an abundance of caution must be taken. An all-virtual start of school until the numbers decline in all categories would provide that caution for all involved.

Nancy Velardi is president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association.