BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Broward County School Board is planning an emergency meeting for later this week to get feedback from parents about the demand from Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran that schools must reopen classrooms by Oct. 5.
The school board is leaning toward maintaining the plan already in place.
The board had voted to begin a staggered reopening as early as Oct. 14, followed by a full re-opening for all grades by the following week.
But on Monday, Corcoran said that wasn’t soon enough, and that classes needed to be re-opened for in-person instruction nearly two weeks earlier, unless the district sends detailed information on why they’re unable to.
“This is not something that the district has been sitting on, this just came to Mr. Runcie’s desk, he shared it with the board and we are now sharing it with the public and acting as quickly as possible," said Broward School Board Chair Donna Korn.
Over the weekend, Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said their state-approved reopening plan called for continuing virtual learning through Oct. 16, which would be the end of the first marking period.
Tuesday, his stance seemed to remain the same.
“I think we should try to keep the timeline that we currently have, and then depending on what our conversation is on Thursday, then we can look to expand that if we need to,” Runcie said.
Thursday’s emergency school board meeting will take place at 10:30 a.m. and members will be hearing from parents, teachers and others before making a final decision.
If they decide to follow the state’s order, they will begin opening classrooms on Monday.