JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public Schools on Tuesday confirmed to News4JAX that the district is extending its mask requirement for employees working with children and visitors, and other strategies the district has implemented to combat COVID-19, through Deb 15.
At that point, according to a district spokesperson, DCPS will re-evaluate.
The district continues to ask employees and students to stay home if sick. COVID-19 testing is offered to symptomatic employees. Employees may return if symptoms have improved and results are negative.
Students are encouraged, but not required, to wear face coverings. Employees are required to wear a facial covering when working directly with students, or when unable to social distance.
Students are strongly encouraged, but not required, to wear a facial covering. Visitors are required to wear masks at schools. Capacity at athletic and performing arts events is reduced to 75%. District office hours are limited for visitors.
The DCPS confirmed the news shortly before its board meeting Tuesday night.
Ahead of the meeting, a group of local educators with Duval CORE Coalition of Rank (and File) Educators rallied outside the board’s headquarters, saying the district needs to do more to keep students and teachers healthy.
The list of demands from the Duval CORE focuses on three key points:
- Proper PPE: The group says all teachers should have N95 masks for themselves and students.
- District contact tracing: The Department of Health suspended contact tracing in Duval schools last month, but educators say teachers and students should be made aware when they’re exposed to COVID-19.
- A district-wide vaccine campaign: The group recommends bringing vaccine buses to schools and sending information about vaccines home to parents.
“The reality is that we are under vaccinated here in Duval County, which means that we are continually dodging a bullet in our hospital system as far as how many people we have in the ICU,” said Alex Ingram, with Duval CORE.
RELATED: DCPS administrators will stand in as classroom teachers to fill quarantine vacancies
During the meeting, Jacksonville teacher Monique Sampson told the board that she’s pregnant and contracted the virus two weeks ago from a student.
“I feel like as a teacher, my back is against the wall, because at this point, I feel like you all are asking me to choose between the health of my baby and my safety, and choose between a profession that I absolutely love,” Sampson said.
Brian Neil Jefferson, also a teacher, noted the social distancing in the meeting’s public seating area.
“This is actually the safest I’ve felt in a Duval County Building in about two years,” he said. “And I couldn’t help but ask myself, well, why can’t we do this in schools?”
Another teacher, Chris Garreri, said he wanted to see the return of contact tracing.
“At my school today, they sent out two emails saying we had two cases of COVID,” Garreri said. “I had seven kids absent today. I wonder if one of those kids could have been in one of my classes. I don’t know, because nobody will tell me.”
A response from DCPS in regard to the demands from Duval CORE reads in part:
“We continue to hear from people with various views in the ongoing debate about the “correct” response to COVID-19. That’s why the district and the School Board revised its communicable disease policy last fall. That policy requires the superintendent to develop procedures in consultation with members of an advisory team who shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
“A. Public health experts. If public health experts are available, at a minimum, the Superintendent shall consult with a member from the Florida Department of Health (Duval) to provide appropriate data updates;
“B. Medical professional (or professionals) that specializes in the communicable disease at issue, a closely related field, and/or pediatrics;
“C. Representative from the District Advisory Council and/or DCCPTA;
“D. Chief/CEO of a local hospital (if warranted)
“That policy led to the development of our communicable disease procedures, which are available here. These procedures were completed in December.”