Last Tuesday, on September 22nd, Broward County Public School’s superintendent, Robert Runcie, held a meeting to discuss whether or not our schools will open by October 5th. The board discussed plans for inplimenting Phase 2 of reopening.

“It will answer questions for parents and students and once approved, it will be placed on our website for all to review and access,” he said of the plan.

Reaction from students is mixed. Some are excited, while others are wary.

SBHS senior Jessica Sprio, 17, is not going back. She says her mother does not want to risk her daughter getting sick. Sprio fears for others because she feels as though it is a huge risk sending kids back to school. She said all it takes is one person to spread it like wildfire.

“I don’t think it will be safe to go back, because even with the guidelines that will be set. Some people won’t follow it, leading to more people getting sick,” said Sprio. “I believe that schools are not prepared for the amount of kids that will get sick and this will result in shutting down.”

Markayla Lee, 15 year old sophomore is a student that is conflicted on whether they want to go back or not. Her parents are letting her chose what she wants to do if the school-board votes on public schools opening up. This is leaving her yearning for the feeling of learning face-to-face, but afraid of people getting sick for something that could’ve been avoided.

“Apart of me wants to go back to school, but then again I don’t,” said Lee. “I want to go back because online learning isn’t the same as in person in the classroom.”

Lee has heard a lot of rumors going around such as people’s schedules having to be changed to accommodate to in-person learning, staying on computers all day, and limited movement.

Besides the student body, faculty is split on idea as well.  Physics teacher Jeffry Herrera says that many teachers are worried about South Broward going back into session and that the overall teacher body would prefer to stay home.

“I think it is good to be back at school, but not at the risk of anyone getting sick,” said Herrera. “Personally though, I would like to be back. I prefer human interaction and having social practices in person.”

Herrera’s biggest concern is how classrooms would be run if we go back. He is brainstorming how to personally instill safe precautions, especially in experiments. There is a present concern of the overcrowding of students in a limited space. This obstacle is something the board will have to think about during their voting.

Students and parents can complete a survey whether they will be returning to school through a link in the Clever portal where students access their classes, grades, and other online school needs. The survey will close by September 29th, 5:00 pm.

The meeting Runcie held raised a lot of questions. It answered the most prominent one, that school will resume Oct. 14th for freshman and ESE students. SBHS Administration is holding live teams meeting today at 6:00 p.m. for students and parents to explain further the second phase of e-learning. Interested parties can attend virtually by clicking the link below hosted by SBHS administration, on Canvas announcements and on the SBHS website:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjYwN2QzNzgtMjI2Ny00ZTBiLTlhMWQtNWY5OTBkMWU1ZWFh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22eeacb5cb-5370-4358-a96a-a3783c95d422%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22842437a9-f4ad-4636-b1dd-5722ba4f8769%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d