ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Reopening schools during a pandemic is a first for all school districts.
As Tampa Bay districts tackle the challenge, Pinellas County Superintendent Dr. Michael Grego shared their progress on the matter in a press conference on Wednesday.
"We are going to lead with the advice of doctors and medical evidence and safety to our citizens," Grego said.
Listening to medical experts and sending out surveys are both keys to Pinellas County Schools reopening plan. Florida's seventh-largest school district voted Tuesday night to push back reopening school to Aug. 24, giving school leaders more time to organize safety plans for students returning to the classroom.
"We owe our public, our teachers and our students that constant reflection of asking for what they feel comfortable doing and following medical experts advice," Grego said.
So far, Grego said the district has an idea of its personal protective equipment and cleaning plans like cleaning classrooms before students and teachers enter them. But, its next big challenge: safe transportation.
"The variable that we didn't know was how many students would be riding the bus. Now that we know two-thirds of students are returning to school physically, we are sending out another survey tomorrow asking those students if they are taking the bus or will carpool," Grego said. "Based on feedback from that survey, we will know how many students will be using school buses and do our best to space them out, open the windows to increase circulation and make sure they are wearing masks. That's all advice from doctors as well."
But, he didn't say if the district would need to provide more school buses to make sure kids traveling on them can social distance. Other school districts, including Hillsborough and Polk, are working through similar problems, saying providing enough school buses to safely transport kids is not possible.
Grego is meeting with the Department of Health for its latest guidance on Thursday. He says, for now, the reopening plan remains fluid.
"We need to guard against premature decisions that are a month or two out when things are changing. We have to weigh our variables. Our brief history with COVID shows we have to pivot from one direction to the other quickly," Grego said.
Pinellas County Schools is offering three options for students when they return for the school year, including in-person learning, online learning and 24/7 virtual learning.
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