Younger students first to go back as Catholic schools reopen in South Florida
For the first time in about six months, students returned to Catholic schools in Miami-Dade and Broward on Wednesday.
The Archdiocese of Miami decided to gradually transition to in-person learning beginning Wednesday and ending Oc.t 2, after shutting down its schools’ classrooms in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The schools, like most in Florida, started the 2020-21 school year Aug. 19 offering online learning only, which will remain an option for parents who are not ready to send their kids back yet to in-person classrooms. Schools installed cameras inside the classrooms to allow for remote learning.
Mary Ross Agosta, the communications director for the Archdiocese, said the pastors and principals at each of the 49 elementary schools and eight high schools in the Archdiocese determined the best way to resume face-to-face teaching. About 33,000 students attend Catholic schools in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties, Agosta said.
“It was a great day,” she said. “I have been calling principals all day and they’ve all told me they’re thrilled and everything is going well.”
Some schools only allowed the younger students, from Pre-K, kindergarten and first grade, to return this week, and will welcome the older students next week.
Similarly, some schools opted for hybrid methods, allowing students to take turns every other day going to physical classrooms, while others opened overflow areas to accommodate social distancing.
When asked if teachers who didn’t feel comfortable returning to the brick-and-mortar schools were able to teach from home, Agosta said schools dealt with those situations on a case-by-case basis with HR.
All schools mandated the use of masks, and implemented health and safety methods like the use of hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations, temperature screenings and plexiglass barriers, Agosta said.
She said a teacher told her she couldn’t sleep last night from the excitement. Another, who’s also a mother of a student, said her young son got nervous the night before, but once the car pulled up to the school to drop him off, he saw his friends and bolted out of his seat and rushed in.
“Everybody was happy,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade School Board voted Tuesday to delay the gradual start of in-person classes until Oct. 14 and finish by Oct. 21.
The Broward County School Board has yet to vote on an official reopening plan, which it plans to do either next Tuesday in a workshop or at an Oct. 6 board meeting.
On Tuesday, Broward School Board members tentatively decided to start welcoming students Oct. 14 and finish by Oct. 20.
