This just in:
July 20, 2020
CONTACT: Joni Branch, (850) 201-3223 or (850) 544-7055
Florida educators file lawsuit to protect health and well-being of students, educators and communities
TALLAHASSEE — Along with educators and parents, the Florida Education Association (FEA) filed suit Monday against Gov. Ron DeSantis, Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education, the Florida State Board of Education and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez to safeguard the health and welfare of public school students, educators and the community at large. The lawsuit intends to stop the reckless and unsafe reopening of public school campuses as coronavirus infections surge statewide.
“Gov. DeSantis needs a reality check, and we are attempting to provide one,” said FEA President Fedrick Ingram. “The governor needs to accept the reality of the situation here in Florida, where the virus is surging out of control. He needs to accept the evolving science. It now appears that kids 10 and older may pass along the coronavirus as easily as adults. Everyone wants schools to reopen, but we don’t want to begin in-person teaching, face an explosion of cases and sickness, then be forced to return to distance learning.
Florida’s Constitution demands that public schools be safe. Teachers and parents want our schools to meet that basic standard.”
Find the lawsuit online here: https://feaweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Complaint-FINAL.pdf
The leaders of FEA’s national affiliates are fully in support of the suit.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten:
“The push to physically reopen schools full time without any precautions or new resources, and, most importantly, amid a skyrocketing COVID-19 surge, ignores science, safety and basic humanity. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order, as carried out by others, puts an entire generation of kids — as well as their families and their educators — at risk. As educators, we know in-person learning is what’s best for students. And while educators want to be back in the classroom, it is not possible when the state or a local region can’t ensure that schools won’t become hot spots for virus spread. That is why across this country, from red states like Texas to blue states like California, where cases are surging, elected officials are putting a pause on in-person reopening. They are leaving it to local control, which has previously been a celebrated, time-honored tradition in Florida.
“Further complicating getting our schools physically open again is the abject failure to date of both the president and the Senate to follow the House of Representatives’ lead to provide schools with the resources they need to fund safe reopening plans. Here in Florida, the governor has a constitutional obligation to make schools safe, and he’s failed. If he won’t look out for students’ and teachers’ best interests, we will.”
National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García:
“No one wants to be back in the classroom with students more than educators, but we must do so only if we can ensure it is done in a safe way. Unfortunately, Gov. Ron DeSantis, like Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, has no plan to solve the real issues facing public schools during a pandemic, and that’s a major concern to students, educators and parents. He needs to listen to health experts and educators to do this right — and not pressure school districts to rush to reopen putting students, educators and communities at risk. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequities facing our most vulnerable students — particularly for Black, brown and students living in poverty. We must address these inequities now — not push for school reopenings that will harm those students the most — and that requires equitable tools and resources from the federal government, which has failed to act. Whether school buildings are open or not, educators are preparing to ensure all students have the best possible learning, and the Senate needs to do its job by passing the HEROES Act.”
About the lawsuit:
The FEA lawsuit has been filed in state circuit court in Miami, in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. FEA is joined in the litigation by Broward teacher Stephanie Beth Miller; Ladera Royal, an educator in Orange County; and Mindy Festge, a teacher and parent in Miami-Dade County,
The lawsuit contends that ordering an unsafe return to onsite instruction at public schools is a violation of Florida’s Constitution, which requires the provision of a “safe” and “secure” schools, and requests a declaration that the state defendants’ actions and inactions are unconstitutional. In a second count, the suit seeks a declaration from the court that the state defendants are putting arbitrary and capricious demands on public schools through the education commissioner’s unfunded emergency order.
A third count in the suit seeks an order enjoining the state defendants, along with Mayor Gimenez, from forcing millions of students and educators to report to unsafe schools that should remain physically closed during the spike of the pandemic; ordering defendants to implement a meaningful online instruction plan with accessible internet connectivity and computers; ordering that before schools reopen they must have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies, reduced class sizes, social distancing, staffing, and school clinic capabilities in compliance with CDC guidelines and other health authorities.
Florida’s push to return students to classrooms comes as evidence grows that reopening while case numbers and test positivity rates remain high could lead to dire results — worsening the spead of the virus while endangering the lives of children, educators and communities at large.
Our state currently has more than 350,000 diagnosed cases of coronavirus and has been adding to that total by more than 10,000 cases per day, with test positivity rates averaging above 12 percent. Hospitals in areas such as Miami-Dade are overloaded with patients suffering from Covid-19. More than 5,000 deaths have been recorded statewide.
It is notable that countries that have successfully reopened schools without igniting an increase in cases, have done so after case levels were pushed to near zero and transmission rates were low. That is clearly not the case in the Sunshine State. Our situation might be better compared to that of Israel, where reopening saw cases resurge.
Meanwhile, the jury is out on the risk of long-term damage to children who contract the virus. Evidence mounts, however, that older students can spread the disease. A large new study from South Korea finds that kids between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
Educators want to return to our schools and be with their students. Distance learning is not the preferred solution for our kids, but protecting the safety and well-being of students, educators and communities must be paramount to other concerns. Keeping kids and adults healthy should be our first goal.
Whether school buildings are open or not this fall, we need to ensure that we’re preparing to provide students with the best possible learning experience — meaning all students, whether they are Black, brown or white, have the tools and resources necessary to succeed.
And when students return, we must ensure they have better conditions for learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequities facing our most vulnerable students, in particular students of color and children living in poverty, and we must address these inequities now.
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Sanity at last!!!
All praise to the folks behind this lawsuit. This is what leadership looks like. Exactly the opposite of what we have seen from our cognitively challenged Trump Mini-me governor.
This is good news.
I want to share some other positive news:
Rank and file educators in Miami will have a car for ‘Student & Teacher Safety.’
So on Wednesday, July 22, join school teachers & staff, parents, and community allies from across Miami-Dade for our caravan to demand that schools remain closed until it is safe to return (according to CDC guidelines) to guarantee the safety of all. MDCPS must immediately commit to opening virtually this fall, in order to give teachers, students, and parents ample time to plan accordingly for the upcoming school year. Although remote learning is less than ideal, it is currently the only safe option until this pandemic eases.
While some want a haste and dangerous reopening of schools (Governor DeSantis and White House) and others are threatening to defund our public schools (DeVos) we are saying, “stop playing politics and put students’ and teachers’ lives first.” Let’s show them all that we are united for the safety of our students, their families and the educators who serve them.
See details in the flyer below. The caravana will start at Jackson Senior High, move to UTD, and end at M-MDCPS. Decorate your cars and let the public know we are here to defend our teachers, staff, and students. Spread the word far and wide!
https://facebook.com/events/s/remainremote-caravan-for-mdcps/391941155118422/?ti=icl
What Bob said. And one wonders what the “for opening” people are doing with THEIR children. CBK
My favorite line from this document:
“We Must Get This Right as There are No “Do-Overs'”
Good for them. There would be fewer sick and dead food processing plant workers if someone had advocated on their behalf.
Didn’t we used to have a Dept of Labor and OSHA in this country? Where are they? What do they do all day? How is that thousands of working people are being infected at work and the government entities they support has done nothing about it?
Why do we employ them? Isn’t this directly in their wheelhouse?
Because all government regulatory agencies have been systematically and increasingly underfunded and understaffed by the last five presidents regardless of party.
Yup.
To paint all five past administrations with the same brush is as shallow an “analysis” as it gets. Genuine oversight of any federal agency, etc. cannot be distilled in to easy, obvious answers. Congresses all try to water down sweeping legislative processes, executive branches block and stymie. That’s just a fundamental civic lesson. The “last five presidents regardless of party is as far removed from pragmatic reality and judgment as it gets.
Meanwhile in the US Department of Education Reformers:
TOMORROW Rightwards arrow join Assistant Secretary StumpOCTAE
Albert Palacios for a virtual information session on the #RuralTechProject, ED’s $600K challenge to advance technology education in our nation’s rural high schools.
Every public school in the country is struggling to even OPEN and ed reformers are running a contest. Stop what you’re doing, school employees and spend endless hours competing in this ridiculous gimmick.
The utter cluelessness about what is actually going on in this country is mindboggling.
Throw the bums out.
Good for the FEA for standing up for Florida’s children, families and educators. DeSantis is more interested in showing loyalty to Trump than safely opening schools. The governor is out of touch. A state with over an 18% positivity infection rate should not be focusing on opening schools. The first step is to bring the infection rates down to about 5%. Every country that has opened successfully has had a low rate of infection followed by mask wearing and social distancing. Then, DeSantis can talk about opening. We should be using science to inform our decisions instead of using our students and teachers as guinea pigs.
It is reassuring to find that people are acting to oppose DeSantis when he asks for the reopening of schools. The situation in Florida is making the news and many of us feel that sending children to school poses incredible risks and dangers. The possibility of a huge multiplication of cases is frightful to consider. Why should anyone be pressured to send their children into such a situation.
It is also something of a consolation that teachers are the ones to speak up on this. They speak for many other people. What they suggest makes such sense. Work to reduce the occurrence of cases, which can be done if the some simple measures are followed for a while. It would be a shameful thing if a parent had send a child to its death. Respect to our teachers and all those who share their voices in this most serious of situations.
Many districts are also offering students a distance option for the opening of schools. Of course, working parents have little choice in the matter.
And teachers have no choice either.
Let the Charters go first then. God help them.
PML Sent from my iPhone
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This is beautifully argued.
And a special thanks to Fredrick Ingram! You rock!
Thank Randi Weingarten, too, for this lawsuit. She’s a lawyer and quick to see the value of “See you in court.”
Yes!
Our state & national leaders were SO solid in the rollout of the lawsuit. Even the national has NAACP joined. So proud to be a FL teacher. Uphold the Florida Constitution, Gov. DeSantis.
“We do not want to be the Petri dish of the nation.” FEA President Fedrick Ingram
#unionstrong
Oops. National NAACP has joined.
Right–that was Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman who wanted to do that–be a national “Petri dish…a control group.” So said she to a slack-jawed Anderson Cooper.
I call him guv INSanetis. Hope you win that lawsuit, FEA.
I will continue to say this. The American Academy of Pediatrics will have blood on its hands.
It’s UBER hard to figure out how schools could possibly be safe when outdoor camps have recorded cases and shut down all over the place.
Oh–my bad–maybe these were “only” positive cases, & no one died.
No one we know of.
Like Grandma or Dad w/diabetes or Mom w/respiratory issues…yet.
In public today, AOC received a verbal lashing from a Florida GOP congressman that she described as unprecedented. Rep. Ted Yoho’s tirade was overheard by a reporter from The Hill. Allegedly, Yoho gave himself permission to call AOC, a “bitch” – the men of right-wing religion, so entitled and dangerous to democracy.
GOP Rep. Roger Willians (Texas) was reportedly walking with Yoho when Ted allegedly referred to AOC as a “f—ing bitch”. Willams, of the other right wing religion, a graduate of Texas Christian University, circled wagons to aid the good ole’ boys. He said he didn’t hear Yoho’s comment, he was thinking about legislative issues.