By Randi Weingarten
Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump never miss an opportunity to blame others for their failures in leadership. That was clear recently during DeSantis’ visit to a Jacksonville-area charter school: As COVID-19 infection rates are rising again in Florida, he took a victory lap for his handling of the pandemic and schooling. He also used his visit to attack the unions that have been fighting to both educate our children and keep all of us safe.
Educators want nothing more than to be back in person in their classrooms with students. Well before the pandemic, as Florida had increased its use of virtual and distance learning, we repeatedly called out the limits of this kind of instruction. While there are few good choices in the midst of the third surge of this pandemic, there are right and wrong ways to approach reopening school buildings. To promote safety and student learning, the right way requires listening to the science and respecting educators, parents, students and the health professionals who are on the frontlines. DeSantis, like Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, refuse to do either.
Just like the Trump administration, DeSantis’ administration failed to develop any kind of comprehensive reopening plan. As COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Florida, DeSantis threatened to take away state funding if districts refused to reopen school buildings fully, an action so brazen and unsafe our union challenged it in the courts. Since then, DeSantis has tried to keep the public in the dark on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state. And now, his denial of the virus continues with the proclamation that schools will remain open regardless of how many COVID-19 infections may arise in a school or community — completely out of step with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his own department of health. Tellingly, while speaking at the charter school (which is connected to Republican donors) last week, DeSantis disregarded the fact that several Jacksonville public schools closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks. This is in addition to closures in districts across the state, including in Miami-Dade and Orange counties.
In the real world, COVID-19 cases continue to rise, breaking records throughout the United States. Florida is now adding more than 3,000 new cases a day, with more than 812,000 cases and nearly 17,000 lives lost.
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