Kelly Hayes
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran sent a letter no-going Hillsborough County’s plan to start the school year online.
In the letter addressed to Superintendent Addison Davis and obtained by Florida Politics, Corcoran writes the decision to start schools online contradicts the district’s reopening plan, which had already been approved by the Florida Department of Education as required by Corcoran’s emergency order.
The letter was delivered late Friday after the Hillsborough County School Board voted 5-2 Thursday to start the first four weeks of the school year online.
“The Emergency Order gives school districts guaranteed funding at levels beyond what would otherwise be available in order to empower school districts to meet the diverse needs of students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Corcoran wrote in the letter. “This delay is extremely difficult for the students with individualized educational plans whose families count on the public education system for critical specialized services.”
In early July, Corcoran issued an emergency order requiring school districts to give parents the option to send students to brick-and-mortar schools five days a week. The order sparked backlash from teachers across the state who are not yet comfortable going back to school because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The order required districts to send a reopening plan to the Florida Department of Education for approval, which Hillsborough County did. However, the district moved to delay the plan’s implementation Thursday after consulting with health experts.
The district-wide reopening delay does not comply with the Emergency Order, Corcoran wrote in the letter. For districts past “phase 1,” these decisions must be made on a school-by-school basis.
“The day-to-day decision to open or close a school must always rest locally with the board or executive most closely associated with a school,” Corcoran’s letter read, quoting from his executive order.
Corcoran gave the district three options to move forward. The district can follow the approved plan, it can submit an amended plan to the Department for approval by next Friday, or the district can withdraw the plan and proceed without the additional funding, as stated in the order.
In a statement to Florida Politics, Corcoran criticized the board’s decision.
“The Hillsborough County School Board needs to follow the law, it’s that simple,” he said. “What they did yesterday completely eliminated the flexible options for their families and students and ignored how harmful it can be for students who are experiencing violence, abuse, and food insecurity in their homes, many of whom are already struggling to close achievement gaps. These are urgent circumstances and we cannot, and will not, ignore it.”
Davis said the district is currently reviewing the letter with the board’s legal team.
“Yesterday, the School Board made an informed decision after receiving data and hearing from the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County, along with hearing the advice of other local infectious disease and public health authorities,” Davis said in a statement to Florida Politics. “The Board acted after serious deliberations and with all due diligence. Our district understood the possibility that such a response from the state might come and it has been clear that the district could face negative implications. We will use this information to have discussions about where we go from here.”
8 comments
Sonja Fitch
August 8, 2020 at 4:24 am
Cockroach Corcoran and Duffus Desantis once again are sending different messages! Duffus Desantis said left up to school systems! Cockroach Corcoran says do it or else! Hillsborough has an excellent school system! The Employees in the Hillsborough system are very proud of the counties school district ! If Hillsborough says it ain’t safe! It ain’t safe for our children and employees! Listen to local system!
Billy O’Rourke
August 8, 2020 at 8:25 am
Corcoran is the douchebag who killed thousands by stopping Medicaid expansion when he was House Speaker. He must not be satisfied with the body count yet.
Make no mistake: this is an arrogant, self-centered know-it-all with blood on his hands.
Corcoran is scum.
The Gipper
August 8, 2020 at 9:07 am
Commissioner Corcoran is correct and is doing the right thing for school age children in Florida.
Hillsborough County went off the rails years ago and is controlled by the liberal left. They know school age children are not at risk to contract COVID-19 (and if they did are asymptomatic) but these administrators and many teachers prefer to stay home and work from a laptop because they are lazy or it fits their political narrative/agenda. The schools need to reopen, they’ve been closed since March but daycares have been open without a problem.
If some parents don’t want their children going to school they can keep them home and Home School them.
Herget
August 9, 2020 at 1:09 pm
No, they are not asystemmatic. They can die just like adults. Over 338,000 kids have caught it. The radical right is the reason we can not get ahold on this virus because of discussions like this. We need scientist to lead the way. We have to federal leadership. We need a real leader, a real president. A national problem dealt with by a national response!
Herget
August 9, 2020 at 1:13 pm
We have *no federal leadership.
Clare
August 9, 2020 at 2:38 am
Absolutely unacceptable. We are in a pandemic with record deaths and positive cases in Florida. The virus IS NOT under control. Yet, DeSantis, Trump and Corcoran have no problem with kids, family, and school staff getting sick or dying. DeSantis and Corcoran only Care about impressing Trump and NOT about saving lives in Florida. SHAMEFUL!
The Gipper
August 9, 2020 at 8:06 am
Except kids are not dying in Florida.
Where are you getting this fear driven opinion from? Oh that’s right, the state media.
How many are negative tests are there? How many people recover? Over 99 percent. They never report these numbers. This state has over 23 million people, do the math on the population V infections or death and get a reality grip.
Again, if some parents…. IF they don’t want their children to attend class Home School them. The kids are not at risk. These policies moving forward on education are about helping children acquire a decent education after school closures since March, this has nothing to do with Pres.Trump.
Glad we have a governor and education commissioner who care if FL’s children Are educated properly.
Conservative_always
August 9, 2020 at 10:45 am
Yep!
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