"When you put me in a room with even 25 teenagers, in a small room, with a largely asymptomatic population that really scares me,” Stella Karas said. “It really scares me, and it scares me to bring it home to my family.”
Karas is a Social Studies teacher at Sarasota High School. She’s not the only teacher having these fears.
In Sarasota and Manatee county, students have three choices for the upcoming school year. They can either return to a traditional classroom setting full time, start the school year with remote learning and return to the classroom at a later date, or enroll in virtual school.
Teachers, on the other hand, don't have that choice when it comes to returning to work.
"We don't have a choice,” Karas said. “I know my school has been amazingly supportive and the district, for the most part, has been amazingly supportive but in the situation, our hands are tied through the state."
That is, unless you take a leave of absence. Teachers have the option to either use one of the district’s paid leave options, such as personal or sick days, or use leave through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Congress passed this legislation that places mandates on SCS’ leave programming in response to our current health crisis. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) is one of several pieces of legislation that addresses the needs of citizens surrounding health and employment.
The FCCRA Act requires schools to provide their employees with paid sick leave and expanded family medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19.
There are two main components of the FCCRA Act:
- Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL)
- Emergency Family Medical Leave Expansion (EFMLE).
These provisions were enacted to supplement other employee leave benefits (i.e. SCS sick accruals, LOAs or FMLA).
So far, 61 teachers and 32 other staff members of the Sarasota County School District have taken some form of leave for the upcoming school year. A total of 48 employees have resigned.
10 Tampa Bay has requested teacher leave information from the Manatee County School District, and we are still waiting to receive that data.
In an effort to help ease some of that fear for teachers and parents, both Manatee and Sarasota schools are requiring the use of face coverings.
“I think what we are going to have to do is be very very careful and it's going to be difficult to teach with a mask and a face shield but if that's what needs to be done then that's what needs to be done,” Karas said.
The Facilities Services Department for Sarasota Schools is also requesting an additional $200,000 to cover cost associated with purchasing equipment needed to combat the COVID-19.
Sarasota School Board members are expected to either approve or deny this request along with many others at their 3 p.m. meeting on Aug. 4.
Over in Manatee County, School Board Members will further discuss the possibility of offering rapid testing for students and teachers, along with other safety precautions.