First Week of School in Broward and Palm Beach Counties a Disaster

In less than one day this week, COVID-19 claimed the lives of three Broward County school teachers and one of its assistant teachers. 

Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said, “Within a 24-hour span, we had an assistant teacher pass away, a teacher at her school pass away, an elementary teacher pass away and another teacher at a high school.”  There has been no response from Governor DeathSentence.

In the next county over, 440 Palm Beach county students were sent into quarantine just two days into the school year, reports CBS' Palm Beach affiliate WPEC.  The number of COVID cases spiked dramatically within the first two days of school. As of Thursday, there were 131 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 26 employees and 105 students, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard. The cases have been confirmed in 60 of the district's facilities and K-12 schools. 

Students in quarantine will not be able to take part in virtual learning, according to WPEC, and instead, will have to make up their work.  Palm Beach Superintendent Michael Burke told MSNBC this week that the district's goal was to "get our students back in person on our campuses." But, he said, "we've gone as far as we can within the state law." 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (i.e., Corona Ron) mandated last week that school districts cannot require children to wear face masks, which have been proven to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses."  The governor's got to take responsibility for establishing the ground rules we're operating under," Burke told MSNBC. "This ability for families to opt out is leading to more cases which is ultimately going to send more kids home and deprive them of the typical classroom experience." 

Corona Ron's administration was finally forced to admit that the Governor can't actually follow through with his threat to strip the pay from School Superintendents and Board members who mandate face masks in school.  The Governor's office finally acknowledged what many had already pointed out-- that superintendents and board members are not state employees, and that Corona Ron can't withhold their salaries.  

In the meantime, Florida broke its daily COVID case record with 24,869 cases in a single day, the state’s most since the start of the pandemic.  The state's resulting COVID-19 surge has also created unprecedented wait times for hospital beds. 

Are you going to step up and lead, Ron?  How many people have to get sick and die before you admit you're wrong and do something to manage this crisis?