Teachers, Parents Anxious As Aug. 24 School Reopening Looms

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — The actions of a middle school teacher while addressing the Pinellas County School Board Tuesday carried more weight than her comments about face masks.

While addressing the school board during a special meeting, Jillian Katz readjusted her face mask 13 times to keep it from sliding down her nose.

That's 13 times the likelihood of transferring the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said people who touch their face masks without first washing their hands risk contaminating their masks with coronavirus and transmitting the virus to vulnerable mucous membranes on the face.

"Masks are only effective when they fit properly and are combined with social distancing guidelines," said Pinellas County school teacher Abbey Duncan.

She told the school board that, while waiting her turn to speak, she "witnessed at least five people touch their face and adjust their masks," Duncan said. “And they're adults. We’re asking kids not to do that?"

Duncan found it especially ironic that, while the school board is mandating that staff and students wear face masks and shields, Duncan was instructed to remove her face shield before speaking to the school board so "I could be heard and understood during this meeting.”

For more than five hours, anxious parents and teachers waited outside the school board chambers to see if the board would stick to its decision to reopen public schools on Aug. 24 or reverse its vote as the Hillsborough County School Board did last week.

See related story: Education Commissioner Says School Board Violated State Order

Some came hoping to speak on the reopening plan but the school board restricted public comment to the issue of face masks.

One mother found a way around the school board's rules. She simply ended every sentence with “because my students cannot wear masks.”

Katy Meissner, who has two children in public school, told the board that her youngest son can’t keep a face mask on long enough for her to run into the grocery store for a gallon of milk. She said she had no choice but to enroll her children in one of two online learning options offered by the Pinellas County School District — Mypcs Online or virtual school.

She said she chose Mypcs Online because it was presented as an alternative to traditional virtual school, allowing students to remain enrolled in their assigned schools while receiving live, structured lessons from an online teacher.

Meissner said she was “outraged and disappointed” when she learned this wasn’t the case.

"You lied to us," Meissner told Grego.

Instead of having an online teacher for instruction, the school district is asking teachers to simultaneously teach both in the classroom and online.

Grego said having separate teachers for online classes wasn't financially feasible.

“It’s the reality of what that (Mypcs Online) offers our school district from a financial standpoint," Grego said.

Deputy Superintendent William Corbett said the only way the school district could obtain the full funding for its 2020-21 budget was to follow Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran's July 6 emergency order calling for all public schools to physically reopen their doors in August.

But the state also wanted to give parents a choice.

Since the state only reimburses school districts $5,300 for students who enrolled in virtual school, the state allowed school districts to create a hybrid online learning model that would reimburse school districts the same amount ($7,900 per student) they would receive for students attending brick-and-mortar schools.

After reviewing the two online choices, more than 37,000 Pinellas students signed up for the MyPCS Online option while 2,600 opted for virtual school.

But after the school officials ran the budget numbers, they realized they were promising more than they could deliver.

With 85 percent of the school district's budget going to teacher salaries, the number of teachers required to teach in person and online would leave the school district with a shortfall.

Pinellas County Schools

"There would be some Draconian cuts that would have to be made," Corbett said.

Duncan said the school district is giving teachers an impossible task.

"Teachers cannot do justice to children in both platforms, especially if we’re speaking through masks," she said.

Meissner said it sounds as if the school district is more concerned with getting reimbursed by the state than it is with teaching children.

“Now my children will have to compete with face-to-face students for the teacher’s attention,” she said, remembering to mention "face masks" to adhere to the school board's public comment rule. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter that my students can’t wear masks because you’re going to get the full funding from the state.”

See related stories:

• Some Pinellas School Board Members Want To Delay School Reopening
• Pinellas Releases Draft Back-To-School Plan, Mandates Masks
• As FL Governor Pushes To Reopen Schools, Districts Look At Delays