Florida governor has been sued over his stance on school reopenings by the largest teachers union in the state. The union also called for the decision on how to reopen schools be passed to school boards who are more likely to make sound decisions.
Florida governor, Gov. Ron DeSantis, together with Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education, Florida State Board of Education and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez have been sued by Florida’s largest teachers union, Florida Education Association (FEA), over their decision to reopen schools in August.
Lawsuit against Florida governor
The lawsuit comes a few weeks after Corcoran signed into law an executive from Florida governor DeSantis calling on schools to reopen in August amidst rising coronavirus cases in the state, which is averaging over 10,000 new cases per day. The executive order called on all schools to ensure that they reopen face to face learning, including private and charter schools.
The executive order, however, provided an option for schools to make their own decision through their boards or local health departments depending on the situation of the spread of coronavirus. It also provided an option for parents who would opt for online learning, indicating that they were free to let their kids continue studying at home.
The executive order made it clear that come August, students must be able to attend classes at least five times a week.
Pass the mandate to school boards
FEA President Fedrick Ingram said the Florida governor needed some reality check on the situation currently in his state. Ingram also emphasized that the virus was getting out of control, with a spike in cases being recorded daily. The fatalities were also on the rise, with the state recording over 5,000 deaths since the spread of coronavirus began.
The lawsuit will help in ensuring that the teachers and students in the state of Florida are protected. He emphasized that the majority of people were for the reopening of schools, however, Ingram noted that many were also against in-person school reopenings and that was what the lawsuit was addressing. Ingram said they wanted to put decision making on when schools should be reopened where it belonged, with locally elected school boards, who would be able to give a better evaluation on how to proceed with the reopenings.
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