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'We need a concrete plan': Hillsborough County teachers and parents in limbo while they wait to find out how the year will start

Hillsborough County schools are set to start on August 24. It’s still unclear if students will be learning from home for the first four weeks of the year.

TAMPA, Fla. — A little over a week away from the start of the 2020 school year and Hillsborough County parents are filled with uncertainty.

“Holy moly, what am I going to do now? I still have to figure out if I need to contact my boss and try to change my work schedule,” Jennifer Perez said.

The single mother of three says she’s hoping brick and mortar schools will be open. Her kids are five,11, and 15. While she has been working from home recently, she says she can’t give them the attention they’d need at home.

“We did choose brick and mortar. It's just what works for our family and having a Kindergartener, he's obviously all hands-on, so an eLearning experience, in my opinion, isn't the best for him. Especially when I have to work. He can't log into the applications himself,” Perez said.

Hillsborough County schools are set to start on August 24. It’s still unclear if students will be learning from home for the first four weeks of the year. School board members say the plan to go online hasn't changed despite a letter from Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran asking them to open brick and mortar schools.

The district’s teachers are finding themselves in the same boat. They started working a week ago, but are learning new software and curriculum, trying to make sure they’re prepared in time.

“It's been really hard to plan for the upcoming school year, for instance, we've been in school for a week and a half and just got our schedules yesterday because so much has changed,” Carolina Plested said. 

This will be Plested's 9th year teaching Spanish. She works at Tampa Bay Technical High School and has been given an eLearning position after fighting COVID-19.

“I literally felt myself knocking on death's doorway. I cannot imagine a lot of my older coworkers possibly even surviving this. I don't know why we are rushing,” Plested said.

After her own coronavirus battle, she doesn't feel in-person learning is the right option for the community. 

“I totally firmly believe, to protect my fellow teachers, my students and their families that school should be online till the vaccine is made and mass distributed so that we don't needlessly have to die. Learning can be done online,” Plested said.

While the uncertainty lingers, both parents and teachers are doing their best to prepare

“It's scary. It's something that weighs heavy on my heart and my mind every day, and I always go back to, ‘Am I making the right decision to send my kids back to brick and mortar? Am I putting their health at risk?’ I'm risking the teachers' lives as well. So it's not just myself or my kids, I think about the whole big picture,” Perez said.

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