Broward Students Begin Staggered Return To Classrooms
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Broward public school students in Pre-K, kindergarten, first, and second grades returned to their classrooms on Friday.
"It feels good for them to finally be with their friends and get to see their teachers," said one parent.
Superintendent Robert Runcie dropped by a bus depot as they began to roll out and spoke about what is being done to help keep the students safe.
"The buses make sure they have a (hand sanitizer) dispenser on each bus. Students are required to wear masks at all times on the bus. It's one student per seat. They start by loading students into the back of the bus all the way up to the front," he said.
On Tuesday, October 13th, third through sixth as well as ninth grade will return.
On October 15th, students in the rest of the grades will return, if that's what they chose.
Among the safety measures in place at the schools are socially distanced seating in classrooms and cafeterias, staggered times to change classes, new signs and decals, and plenty of cleaning supplies.
During a tour of Fox Trail Elementary in Davie, Runcie was shown the measure the school had taken to keep students safe. The superintendent said are doing what they can in this difficult situation.
"We are trying to accommodate teachers, you know, some of them have applied for leave, others need other accommodations. We are trying to work through that at the same time, putting all the protocols in place, making sure that every parent has been contacted, making sure that when we greet the students they are ready and welcome. So there's a lot that we are managing through but I've always been confident in the leadership we have in our schools and their staff, they figure out ways to get it done," he said.
The district also has a dashboard where students and parents can track COVID cases at schools.
