Pasco County school leaders vote to delay first day of school to August 24

LAND O' LAKES, Fla. - The Pasco County School Board voted Tuesday to delay the first day of school to August 24.

The district becomes one of many to push back their start dates in an effort to properly plan to return to class during a pandemic.

The 2020-21 school year was set to start on August 10 in Pasco County, but now teachers, staff, and families will have about two extra weeks to prepare.

Ahead of the meeting, the United School Employees of Pasco stated in a letter to the school board that they wanted to see all students wearing masks, social distancing to be enforced when possible and an increase in the frequency of cleaning of classrooms, offices and buses. They also asked for one-way hallways and staggered dismissal times, along with remote eating areas to limit person-to-person contact.

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The district's guidelines for reopening were still a work in progress Tuesday night, however Superintendent Kurt Browning has made it clear that he plans to mandate masks for all students and staff while at school.

After a survey was done with staff and parents on the topic of masks, he stated that this is what the majority of them wanted. 

"The health and wellbeing of our students and staff is our highest priority," the superintendent said in a video. "Of course, not everyone agrees. This requirement will upset some parents. I understand that, but we heard from them, too. We have a responsibility to protect our students and staff, and the community."

Last week, Superintendent Browning also announced the results of the district's parent and staff survey about how they plan to return to the classroom come the fall.
 
According to Browning, about 70% of parents said that they do plan to send their child back to the classroom. He also gave reassurances to the other parents who chose the virtual and online options saying that they’ve learned a lot over the past few months, adding that they plan to carry that with them into the upcoming semester. 

Employees pushing for a later start date have not given an exact date that they would like to see classes delayed until. However, the Hernando County School District voted Monday to delay school until Aug. 31 with other Bay Area districts pushing their start date back to Aug. 24.