Broward County, in Florida, gave some teachers an accommodation to let them teach at home by computer. The school system did this to protect their health during the Coronavirus pandemic. But now the Broward Schools Superintendent wants them to return to the classroom.

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Politicians want schools open so children can get in-person learning. Business leaders, parents, teachers and school administrators feel the same way.

The theory of the case is simple: children do better when they socialize and study with other students. Parents benefit from classroom learning because they can go to work knowing their children are getting the attention they need. Teachers can respond to their students in ways that may not be possible with remote learning by computer.

But Covid-19, the novel Coronavirus that has killed nearly 400,000 Americans in less than a year, is testing the way we run our education system.

Many schools have reopened after at-home learning by computer was implemented last spring, when the deadly virus first spread across the country.

However, a lot of students continue to learn at home with their computer, either because they are not required to return to the classroom, or their parents are allowed to opt-out of classroom learning for fear that their children may contract Covid-19.

Broward County, the second-most populous county in Florida, runs the sixth-largest school district in the country. Almost 261,000 students, from 170 different countries, and speaking 147 different languages, attend classes, according to the Broward Schools website.

Broward County Public Schools / Homepage (browardschools.com)

The students are taught by about 18,000 teachers, says Jennifer Gottlieb, the political outreach director for the Broward Teachers Union. Roughly 1,700 of those teachers were granted a medical accommodation last fall that runs through June, she says. The accommodation allows them to continue teaching via computer from home so they can protect their health which could be damaged or destroyed if they get Covid-19.

But a review by Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie led to a change in plans. He announced last week that more students than usual were doing poorly academically or were truant since the inception of at-home learning by computer.

Broward Schools: 600 Sick Teachers Allowed To Keep Working From Home. More Than 1,100 Others Must Go Back | WLRN

"Remote learning is working for some students, but for far too many, it is not working at all," Runcie said at a Friday press conference, according to WLRN. "And we have got to do better," he said. "We can no longer continue to warehouse our students in cafeterias, gymnasiums and media centers while teachers are at home. We are encouraging our students, especially those who are struggling, to return to school for face-to-face instruction."

So Runcie ordered all teachers to return to the classroom on Jan. 11. The Teachers Union filed a lawsuit last Thursday, claiming the decision violated an agreement they had reached with the school system in the fall. After some back and forth, about 600 of the teachers with medical accommodations were permitted to continue teaching their students from home.

That means somewhere around 1,100 teachers lost the medical accommodation they felt they needed to protect their lives. The teachers had a decision to make: report to school on Jan. 11, resign, or apply for leave, Gottlieb says, adding, "We're just asking for compassion."

Bu the state has pushed school districts to bring more struggling students back into the classroom. In turn, Broward school system leaders may lessen compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for social distancing.

More students and less social distancing are coming in new semester (msn.com)

According to the Sun Sentinel, "'Due to more students returning to campus, many classrooms will have relaxed physical distancing protocols,'" said a newsletter from Eagle Ridge Elementary in Coral Springs.

"Students and employees must continue to wear masks, but Eagle Ridge and other schools may no longer keep kids 6 feet apart, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Anne Skurnick is a computer science teacher at Pines Middle School. She said her school provides PPE for teachers, cleans rooms regularly and gives teachers masks and hand sanitizer. But Skurnick is concerned that many schools, including Pines Middle School, may bring desks closer together, thus reducing social distancing from 6 feet to 3-to-4 feet.

She is one of the approximately 600 Broward teachers who can still teach her students from her computer in her house.

Skurnick got a medical accommodation because she takes Simponi Aria, a potent infusion prescription for rheumatoid arthritis. Her insurance company, Aetna, pays $9,500 for the medicine every two months. The warning label states that people taking the medicine can die if they get a virus, says Skurnick, who worked in the tech industry for 15 years. She went back to school to earn her Bachelor's degree in education from FAU, fulfilling a dream she had since she was nine-years-old.

A second teacher at Pines Middle School did not meet the same ultimate fate as the computer science teacher from the school.

Jagpal Tung, 70, also earned a medical accommodation last fall. He suffers from asthma and his age makes him more vulnerable to getting very ill or dying if he contracts Covid-19.

However, Tung, a science teacher, was told to report to school for in-class instruction on Jan. 11. He didn't want to risk his health, so he filed his paperwork for a leave on Friday.

"I love teaching," he said. "I haven't missed a day in about 15 years," Tung says.

What will you do now that you are not teaching your students?

"I love to read," he says, noting he reads The Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel and Time magazine regularly.

The effort to bring teachers back into the classroom is being joined by a lobbying campaign to convince the state to identify teachers as essential workers who ought to receive their Covid-19 vaccines soon.

Marie Woodson, a Florida House member who had Covid-19, along with her husband, son and daughter during the recent holidays, backs this push.

"We need to protect our teachers," she says.

Woodson also plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to provide tutoring for some students who fall behind as a consequence of the impact Covid-19 is having on the education system.

"Families are being evicted, or losing their homes, some are food insecure and children are falling behind in their studies," she says. "We need to make an investment to help students catch up."

Authors Bio:

Steve Schneider lives in South Florida. He writes articles for Op Ed News and Democracy Chronicles.