Across Florida — and beyond — school districts are devising plans to deal with how to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing in classrooms as well as what to do if someone gets sick. But one glaring question that remains unanswered: What happens if there’s a Code Red?
As it turns out, the Florida Department of Education — which issued an executive order this month telling schools to return to five-days-a-week of in person schooling — hasn’t gotten that far yet.
“I don’t have anything yet to share with you,” Florida Department of Education spokeswoman Cherryl Etters told The Times-Union over the phone. “I know the staff is working on sending something out.”
Code Reds are issued when there is an immediate threat prompting a school-wide lockdown. Students and teachers go into a designated protected area in their classroom with hard corners. Hard corners are state-mandated areas in Florida classrooms out of a potential shooter’s line of sight.
Of course, cramming into a closet or designated corner gets tricky when you’re also supposed to stay 6 feet apart from people.
When asked at a School Board meeting on Tuesday how Code Red lockdowns will be addressed in Duval County Public Schools, Superintendent Diana Greene responded by saying “we haven’t gotten that far yet.”
Thursday the Duval County School Board approved a resolution to request that the state Department of Education waive mandates to perform emergency drills — including fire, natural disaster and active shooter drills as well as bomb threats. The board’s resolution noted that social distancing complicated the drills.
“Emergency drills result in close contact of students and district staff that is contrary to the social distancing and other protective measures implemented by the district in response to COVID-19,” the resolution said.
According to the resolution, students and staff would receive training for drills verbally instead.
“I understand that hard corners are a very tight part of the room,” Hershey said. “But we can’t let our guard down.”
But stakeholders say that’s not good enough
“What happens if a real code red happens, are we just going to wing it and just hope it goes well?” one parent wrote in the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team Facebook Group.
The group is a grassroots collective of parents, educators and public school advocates. The group — which formed less than a month ago — has almost 3,000 members and has staged caravans and media tours to voice concerns about schools reopening prematurely.
Chris Guerrieri — a teacher who is also running for a School Board seat this year — called the waiver request hypocritical.
“The board saying that schools are too dangerous to have fire drills in should be a clear signal to the community that school is to dangerous to go to,” he said. “Teachers and staff want to return, we all believe in-school learning is the best way to go, but we must prioritize health and safety. We can make up lost time but we can’t make up lost lives.”
A spokeswoman for Duval Schools said in a Code Red scenario, not a drill, social distancing could go out the window.
“In the event of an actual code red, normal code red protocols would be followed,” spokeswoman Sonya Duke-Bolden said. “We are unable to disclose what those protocols are because they are confidential under law.”
Etters, with the Florida Department of Education, said there was “no timeline as of yet,” regarding guidance from the state on how to observe Code Red lockdowns amid the pandemic.
“I would assume districts are asking as well,” she added, suggesting to check back as the school year gets closer to beginning.
The first day of school in Duval County is Aug. 10, though the board may discuss a delay at its next meeting. For most Florida school districts, school starts in less than a month. Superintendent Greene said one third of districts have considered delayed starts.
Emily Bloch: (904) 359-4083