Wire Services
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that closing school campuses in the spring as the coronavirus pandemic took hold might have been one of the nation’s biggest “public health mistakes.”
And, while appearing on the Drew Steele radio show, DeSantis equated people fighting the return of students to classrooms as the “flat earthers of our day.”
Florida shut down school and college campuses in March, with students shifted to online learning. DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran have pushed heavily to reopen classrooms for the new school year.
“In March we may not have had all the information, but in hindsight, knowing what we know now, the closure of schools was one of the biggest public health mistakes in modern American history,” DeSantis said. “And I think even Europe has said we shouldn’t have closed up.”
In the interview with the conservative talk-show host, DeSantis said that as the virus surged in Florida in July, he fought against people who didn’t want to reopen schools because he expected the outbreak to abate and because children “are not vectors” for spreading the coronavirus.
“So, now we’re at the point where the people who advocate school closures are really the flat earthers of our day,” DeSantis said. “They’re not doing it based on data. They’re not doing it based on evidence. They’re doing it based on either politics or emotion. And so, the harm of school closures, I think, is really considerable.”
In August, the Florida Education Association argued in court that a July order by Corcoran to reopen schools would force teachers to “needlessly expose themselves to a deadly and contagious virus based solely on a blanket and arbitrary decision that schools must reopen for in-person instruction or lose their funding.”
More than one million students have returned to classrooms across the state, DeSantis said.
Schools in Miami-Dade County begin staggered reopenings on Monday, with Broward County schools restarting in-person instruction on Oct. 9.
“I’m a big supporter of homeschooling for those who want to do it. But you know, we’ve got a lot of blue-collar families and working mothers who have to go to work,” DeSantis said. “They just don’t have the luxury of being able to do that. Taking away face-to-face instruction means their kids fall behind tremendously.”
10 comments
S.B. ANTHONY
October 2, 2020 at 5:15 pm
I guess he has it heard that trump was hit with the trump virus and it’s nothing like the flu.
gary
October 2, 2020 at 5:34 pm
God Bless DeSantis and DJT! MAGA2020!
Sonja Fitch
October 2, 2020 at 7:15 pm
Desantis taken your test yet? Stop using our children for your sick atrocities! You heard about your puppet master?
James Robert Miles
October 2, 2020 at 8:21 pm
DeSatan is just a wishin’ and a hopin.’ He might be singing a different tune when the second wave hits. The ultimate Trump butt-kisser is doing as he is told by his lord and master!
underground
October 3, 2020 at 8:28 am
Does DeSantis not realize that we’ve got one of the worst per-capita numbers in the country… or does he just not care? He can’t be as dumb as the character he plays on TV, so I have to assume he’s pure evil.
BTW: Any comment from our “leader” on the fact that his boss is in the hospital? Is Trump just being a “flat Earther” who needs to realize this is just the flu?
j
October 3, 2020 at 9:40 am
This man is a danger to Florida’s children. Complete embicile. I will not make the same mistake twice when election time comes around in 2 years.
Kc
October 3, 2020 at 5:34 pm
The “flat-earthers” are the one’s that denied covid in the first place, like this numbnuts & the douche-n-chief who’s being hospitalized by a “hoax”. Breath Deep, ash-hole, maybe you can be the next statistic.
God, what a moron.
tjb
October 3, 2020 at 5:59 pm
Fathead Ron …. not a nice way to talk about your constituents. You are only a pathetic Trump puppet that wants more Floridians to die. Next, you will be bad-mouthing the Floridians who died from COVID-19.
Bright Eyes
October 3, 2020 at 9:20 pm
I have sent 3 emails trying to make you realize a number of errors you’ve made and expect your voters to swallow. I doubt any are passed along to you, but it made ME feel better. You are so far from your original platform I keep checking to see which party your with! Sad..but this gal & friends will not be voting for you should you run for a second term. And you don’t call ANY of your constituents by labels any more than I call you still having growing pains! I’m done with you thinking you rule this “earthly” land.
Glen
October 4, 2020 at 4:09 am
Why do not the homeschoolers get the same financial benefit that the school districts receive from the state and taxpayers of 14-17 thousand per student per year. Perhaps more parents would take this opportunity to home school
It is such a lopsided formula and puts additional burden on the parents that want the homeschool
http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7738/urlt/2020AnnCSSR.pdf
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