‘I’m happy that we’re back.’ Miami students return to school, fully masked and no complaints
The last time 16-year-old Nicolas Rodriguez went to school for a full year of in-person learning was when he was in the eighth grade.
In March 2020, his first year of high school, all students in the state were sent home because of the new coronavirus pandemic. The next school year, his sophomore year, students were given the choice to go back to in-person learning or remain taking classes remotely; Rodriguez was among the almost 50% of Miami-Dade public school students who stayed home to learn.
He began his junior year at MAST Academy’s Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus Monday, the first day back at school for roughly 350,000 Miami-Dade public school students.
“I’m happy that we’re back,” Rodriguez said while sitting in teacher Viviana Bermudez’s honors anatomy and physiology class. And, hopefully, we don’t get shut down by the delta variant.”
The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has led to a surge in new COVID-19 cases in Florida, with daily case counts topping 20,000 or higher in the state.
Carvalho tours new MAST school at FIU
Touring the school — the first day in its three-story, $19.7 million building on FIU’s north campus — was Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who is still bracing for possible penalties for supporting the School Board’s decision to buck Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order forbidding school districts from requiring masks without giving parents a choice to opt out.
In a 7-1 vote last week, the nine-member School Board imposed a mask mandate for all students, teachers, staff and visitors inside a Miami-Dade public school or facility. The mandate does not apply to outdoor activities such as sports or physical education classes. District 5 Board Member Christi Fraga did not vote as she did not attend the meeting.
“People are happy to be back in school after 18 months of isolation,” Carvalho said. “I am thrilled that the sleeping giant is fully awake, and we have 350,000 kids back in school as we speak.”
As of late Monday afternoon, Carvalho said he had not heard from the state regarding Miami-Dade Schools’ mask mandate. The state’s Department of Education last week threatened to withhold the salaries of Broward and Alachua school board members who voted for mask mandates at their respective districts.
At least seven Florida school districts representing more than 1 million Florida students were defying the governor’s order as of Monday morning, according to the Associated Press. The state contends the districts are violating state law unless they allow parents to have their children opt out of mask wearing for any reason.
In the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts, students have to get a doctor’s note not to wear masks.
A Leon County judge on Monday began hearing arguments over a lawsuit filed by pro-mask parents, who are challenging DeSantis’ order.
Carvalho said that he does expect to hear from Tallahassee on the school district’s mask policy, but he reiterated the district won’t be swayed.
“When we do receive that letter, we will react accordingly. But, suffice it to say, I am proud of the position the board has taken. I am proud of the support we received from the community. And, I am proud of the guidance that our health experts have provided,” he said. “So, we’re going to stay the course because we believe we did the right thing for the right reason.”
No issues with masks, Carvalho says
Carvalho, who had already toured five schools before arriving at MAST, said there were no issues with returning students wearing masks, and no parents confronting teachers or administrators about the mandate.
“On the very first minutes of elementary school, middle and senior high, I saw firsthand teaching and learning taking place in an orderly fashion with no reported disputes or confrontations specific to our protocols,” he said. “It turns out that these have been controversies led by adults that have had no impact on the school environment or learning.”
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Carvalho said mandating facial coverings for students and staff was the only safe way to welcome every student back to brick-and-mortar schools, which he said was necessary because so many students fell behind academically over the course of the pandemic.
“Right now, we recognize that after 18 months, that there was a significant learning loss, that there is a very significant unfinished learning problem that needs to be addressed,” he said. “And, what needs to be addressed is for us pivoting away from conversations led by controversies and political statements to teaching and learning and acceleration of students toward their full academic potential.”
Kae’Driona Heath, 17, is in her final year at MAST. She spent all last school year attending class virtually and said she has no problems wearing her mask this year.
“Wearing the mask is for the safety of all of us, to help protect one another, and to not spread the virus,” said Heath, who hopes to attend North Carolina A&T for either journalism or engineering next school year.
Parents happy for students to return
Many parents were also relieved to have their children back in the classroom, and happy to send them to school wearing masks.
Anita Berg’s two children attend MAST: one is a first-year student, the other a senior. Both attended school virtually last year. “They just want to get back to school,” she said.
Carvalho also said there were no issues with buses delivering students to the district’s more than 390 schools.
“We actually had a smoother transportation day on the very first day of school than on what is a typical day in Miami-Dade throughout the school year,” Carvalho said.
Michael Lovaglio, a 16-year-old junior from North Miami attending MAST, said he was excited to see his teachers and friends after such a long period of remote schooling.
“I’ve been online for a long time, and I’m just someone who likes being here physically, so it’s good to be back,” Lovaglio said.
Carvalho said he was also happy that the school year began with almost all segments of the district’s staff, from teachers to custodians to police officers, working under contracts their unions negotiated with the administration.
“All systems are go and all operations are in effect without any critical issues. We are fully staffed in our schools. Actually, our teacher staffing pattern is stronger than it was pre-pandemic. We have fewer vacancies on the first day of school than we had two years ago, which is truly remarkable,” he said.
Carvalho said the mask mandate will be evaluated weekly. The district could relax it and other health and safety protocols if positivity rates for the coronavirus decline in Miami-Dade County. As of Monday, Miami-Dade’s seven-day positivity rate was about 14%, which is very high.
“If we do the right thing, that curve is going to go down,” Carvalho said. “And, then we will adjust the protocols.”
New rules for quarantines
Carvalho said he and his staff are hoping to relax existing protocols for quarantining if a student comes into contact with someone who contracts COVID-19. As of Monday, the rules were that a student must quarantine for 10 days if asymptomatic before returning to school. They don’t have to be tested to return to school if they’re asymptomatic.
District officials are expected to meet with staffers from the Florida Department of Health Wednesday to discuss lowering the time to five days that an asymptomatic student who is vaccinated must stay away from school. Asymptomatic unvaccinated students would be able to return to class after seven days, Carvalho hopes.
“But, we’ll get to that point after our conversation with the health department,” he said.
School officials will use seating charts and assigned seating to contact trace and determine who needs to quarantine.
For students who do quarantine, they will be able to connect online to their classrooms. That agreement was reached between the district and the teachers union over the weekend, Carvalho said.
“Maintaining that level of connection is important academically. It’s important to ensure continuity of learning,” he said. “And, from a social and emotional perspective, it is very comforting to our students.”
Online options for students
While most students in Miami-Dade went to their first day of class in person, more than 3,000 students have enrolled in the district’s home-school program, Miami-Dade Virtual Academy. And, its other online option, Miami-Dade Online Academy, has about 400 students this year, Carvalho said.
“I suspect that one of the largest schools in Miami-Dade will actually be a virtual school — Miami-Dade’s VIrtual Academy, which is poised to grow close to 4,000 students,” Carvalho said. “It may actually become the largest high school in the state of Florida.”
Also Monday, Carvalho wanted parents to know that this year, every student is eligible for free breakfast and lunch “no questions asked,” and “without any conditions or qualifiers.”
He said parents with questions about any topic, from transportation to magnet opportunities,” can call the district’s hotline — (305) 995-3000.
“This is the first of 180 days, and the countdown begins right now,” he said.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how often Miami-Dade Schools will re-evaluate its mask mandate. The district will re-evaluate the policy weekly.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 3:06 PM.
