With K12 platform gone, Miami-Dade parents and teachers want to know what comes next

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Miami-Dade Schools Board met virtually Monday after cutting ties with the K12 online learning platform.

With the K12 platform that many argued was a miserable failure and partly the reason the first week of school in Miami-Dade County was a mess now gone, parents like Amanda Prieto are starting to focus on what reopening physical classrooms will look like, and when.

“Everybody is talking about Phase 2 starts today,” she said. “What’s going to happen to schools?”

It’s fair to say that parents are hungry for more information.

“What if there are still 20 students in a classroom that choose the school house model; how are you physically putting them in the classroom with enough social distancing in between them?” Prieto asked.

On Sunday, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho appeared on Local 10′s This Week in South Florida and discussed the impact of coronavirus trends heading in the right direction.

“I believe that we may be able to open schools prior to Sept. 30 based on the conditions that currently exist, but also based on the conversation with the board and our medical experts,” Carvalho said.

During Monday’s meeting, a majority of public comments from parents and teachers expressed concern about going back into the physical classroom.

“I am extremely worried about being infected with COVID-19 and infecting high risk members of my family whom I live with,” said 13-year Miami-Dade public school teacher Cynthia Rocha.

Rocha is one of many teachers that live in a multi-generational household.

Among other issues the School Board was taking up during Monday’s meeting is whether to direct M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to create a district-wide distance learning and remote work policy.

If the action proposed by School Board Member Susie Castillo is passed, Carvalho would have until Oct. 14 to report back to the Board at the Personnel, Student, School, and Community Support Committee meeting.

School Board Member Maria Teresa Rojas has also proposed to direct Carvalho and the School Board attorney to work together to research and analyze the “financial, legal, operational and instructional feasibility of establishing a parental choice option for online school house learning centers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) utilizing the My School Online Model pursuant to the four guiding principles of the reopening of schools.”

A report back to the Board would be required by Sept. 24.

Monday’s MDCSB virtual meeting can be seen in the two videos below: