Unvaccinated Children At High Risk In Schools

By Selena Stanley and Johania Charles, Staff Writers, the Miami Times

Aug 3, 2021

Miami-Dade County public schools face a tough choice with in-person classes resuming Aug. 23 and more than 300,000 students preparing to roam the halls: call the governor’s bluff by defying his ban on mask mandates and risk losing state funding, or jeopardize the lives of thousands of children by complying.

The decision won’t be easy.

Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State data shows that another alarming record has been broken: 11,515 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the highest number of hospitalizations since last July. About 2,400 of those patients are in intensive care.

Driven by the highly contagious delta variant, lax restrictions and low vaccination rates, the state has become an epicenter for the virus once again, as CDC data shows that new cases in Florida make up nearly one-fifth of all new cases in the U.S.

This, all while students are set to return to full-capacity classrooms in less than three weeks.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC both recommend that students wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Last Wednesday, the Broward County School Board voted to follow those recommendations and impose a mask mandate in its schools.

But by Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a proponent of little to no pandemic restrictions since its onset, had signed an executive order blocking Broward’s mandate and preventing other school’s from making the same decision.

“The federal government has no right to tell parents that in order for their kids to attend school in person, they must be forced to wear a mask all day, every day,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Many Florida schoolchildren have suffered under forced masking policies, and it is prudent to protect the ability of parents to make decisions regarding the wearing of masks by their children.”

The executive order cites Florida’s Parents’ Bill of Rights and effectively bans local school boards from issuing mask mandates. School boards that do not comply with the order may be subject to having critical state funding withheld.

At least 40% of a school’s budget comes from the state, according to data released by the Florida Department of Education (FLDEO). A report released by the FLDEO shows that more than $9 billion in legislative appropriations went into supporting school districts during the 2020-2021 school year. Property and sales tax also contribute to school funds.

According to a statement from Broward County Schools, the district intends to comply with the governor’s order, reversing Wednesday’s vote. The jury is still out on whether or not Miami-Dade County Public Schools will follow suit.

“M-DCPS will once again meet and consult with local health officials in the coming days regarding the school experience in the fall, particularly as it relates to the mask policy in schools and district facilities,” officials said in a news release on Thursday.

The written statement also outlined some anticipated COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming school year, which included a mask mandate on buses, social distancing in cafeterias and a health screening room in all schools, amongst other precautions. District officials said that they will continue to monitor the situation before coming to a final decision on safety protocols.

“Ultimately, these decisions are up to the superintendent,” an M-DCPS spokesperson told The Miami Times via an email.

County school board policy 8453 states, “During times of elevated communicable disease community spread, the superintendent shall issue periodic guidance and directives aligned with the recommendations of public health officials and applicable government guidance and orders.”

M-DCPS is currently erring on the side of caution, with a withholding of state funding being threatened.

“In light of the release of the Executive Order, we certainly hope to be able to craft protocols that ensure full funding of our children’s education, while simultaneously protecting their and their teachers’ health and well-being,” said M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho in a statement.

Miami-Dade County’s teachers union, which is not involved in the decision-making process – but directly affected by the outcome – said district leaders should make an appropriate decision.

“We think it’s absurd that DeSantis is acting like a dictator. Every time he gets on his bully pulpit, he says ‘If you don’t do as I say, we’ll take away funding,’” said Karla Hernández-Mats, president of United Teachers of Dade. “We saw the same thing last year. I think we, as a district, have to call his bluff. If he’s trying to take funding away from the largest school district in the state and from a county that provides so much tax money, then he has another thing coming.”

Last year, UTD sought donations for supplies to help with cleanliness and safety measures in classrooms. Still, 10,000 cases of COVID-19 were identified on school sites.

UTD has received donations of 500,000 masks that it plans to distribute this school year. The group is counting on federal funding from the Biden administration to combat COVID-19 in and outside the classrooms, and has asserted that state assistance has not supported schools properly.

Sandra West, president of the Miami-Dade County Council PTA/PTSA and a public school teacher, said many parents are concerned about the future.

“The reality is that kids under 12 are not vaccinated, period,” she said. “So kids are not safe from this virus in any way shape or form, and even those who are eligible for vaccination – between 12 and 18 – I believe the numbers show that only about 35-38% of them are currently vaccinated. That’s a pretty low number.”

According to data from the CDC, children under 18 have the lowest vaccination rates in every state. The Florida Department of Health reported in its last weekly COVID-19 update that about 38% of those aged 12-19 were vaccinated.

“Kids belong in school, that is something we’ve all come to agree on,” West continued. “Being in school is better for children’s education, it’s better for their mental health and it’s better for their socialization. But risking their lives for that is not something most parents are willing to do … I believe that holding hostage funding, based on policies that are of local benefit, is wrong, and that’s exactly what’s happening.”

Nayla Higbon and Dayana Culliver, both 16, said they plan on wearing masks when they return to school.

(Selena Stanley for The Miami Times)

Dayana Culliver, a 16-year-old student at a local private school, is worried about going back.

“I feel like we shouldn't go back to school, we should keep it online," she said, revealing that she is not willing to take the vaccine despite meeting the age requirement.

Nayla Higbon, a student at My Life My Power International Preparatory Academy and a friend of Culliver, has also opted out of taking the vaccine.

“Everyone should wear their masks, because it’s like everybody is getting the coronavirus [and] it's getting worse,” she said, admitting that her father contracted COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated.

Both girls said they were contacted with updates on their respective private schools’ mask requirements and social distancing protocols for the school year.

Outside of the school setting, county leaders are still battling vaccine hesitancy and opposition to wearing masks.

The positivity rate for the county is now 13.5%, with hospitals seeing a 34% increase in COVID-19 cases compared to numbers from just two weeks ago.

“We have all come too far. We have all sacrificed too much in this past, almost year and a half. We can’t turn back now,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava at a press conference last week, where she announced that masks will be required at all government facilities.

She urged corporations, businesses and restaurants to follow in her footsteps.

Since then, Publix Supermarkets has ordered its employees to wear masks and encouraged customers to do the same while inside stores, regardless of vaccination status. The company is one of the top private employers in the county. Other grocery store chains like Walmart have followed suit.

“I don't like the masks, and we don’t do vaccines, but I would rather wear the masks than get vaccinated,” said Neicy Neverson while shopping at a Walmart near Brownsville with her daughter on Friday. “Why take the vaccines when there are people who have taken it that still catch COVID, so what's the point of the vaccine? If I don't take the vaccine, I can catch it and even if I do, I still catch it. It makes no sense.”

Gloria, a South Florida resident, said she is skeptical about the vaccine but is more inclined to take it because of the threat of the delta variant.

“I want to get the vaccine but I’m scared,” she said. “I’ve been hearing all kinds of things but when I go to the doctor, I can speak to him about getting [it]. Before, I used to say no, I’m not getting it. Now it’s a maybe. I am all for wearing the masks, though.”

Her grandson, who will be starting his first school year at a Miami-Dade County public school, will be wearing his mask.

Levine Cava says the county has doubled down on its vaccine efforts and is strategically reaching out to those who are hesitant. Sixty-two percent of county residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the Florida Department of Health.

M-DCPS is the largest employer in the county with the Miami-Dade County government trailing behind, noted the Miami-Dade Beacon Council in a recent report.

Among those returning back to school sites are janitors, bus drivers, administrators, clerical staff, students and cafeteria staff, among others. UTD estimates that a total of 500,000 people will be inside Miami-Dade schools this year – numbers comparable to attendees at a music festival – leaving a high possibility of transmission daily, if the right protocols aren’t set.

“The governor continues to overlook the circumstances at the local level, he’s leading in a way that says each man for themselves,” said Hernández-Mats.

DeSantis stands ready to oppose federal efforts to mandate masks for students, threatening to call a special legislative session.

“There’s been talk about potentially people advocating at the federal level, imposing compulsory masks on kids,” he said at a bill signing event in Fort Pierce. “We’re not doing that in Florida, OK? We need our kids to breathe.”

DeSantis is running for reelection next year and eyeing a 2024 presidential bid. Central to his national image among conservatives is his refusal to impose mask mandates. On Tuesday, at a press conference near the Shark Valley Visitors Center, he restated his stance, saying “we are not shutting down.”

The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.