JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Monday Duval County teachers were back in the classroom, preparing for the new school year, but it was just not the same.
"I know five teachers in my school who have said they're not coming back this year," said local teacher Alex Ingram.
The past few months leading up to the school year have been a challenge for teachers and parents. Andu Ponniah has two sons in Duval County's Stanton College Preparatory High School.
"It has got one of the best schools here," he said.
Even so, all summer he has wrestled as a parent with whether his sons should return to school in a COVID-19 pandemic.
"How are they going to enforce social distancing," he said. "What about on the bus and after school activities?"
Unsatisfied with answers or the lack of from the school board, the single dad enrolled his sons in Duval Home Room, a virtual classroom, no brick-and-mortar this fall.
While the moves made by the administration are politically correct, it is not getting a passing grade from this parent," said Ponniah.
As of Aug. 13, there are 39,005 Duval Homeroom applications from parents who have decided to go virtual for now.
Aug. 13, teachers returned to the classroom to start the 2020-2021 school year and some have opted out, we don't know the numbers.
Ingram has been very outspoken about the upcoming school year.
"We know there have been over 100,000 cases with children with the disease, 30,000 in Florida," Ingram said.
The concern is what happens when a student or teacher becomes infected and it spreads throughout the campus.
"We know they can spread it, and so spreading it to faculty and staff and bus drivers and food preparation and administrators is a real genuine concern," he said.
Other school districts in the Southeast have open and had to close after an outbreak. The district has given parents the option Duval Homeroom, virtual school and a hybrid for middle and high schoolers.
Elementary students have a required face-to-face curriculum, as being required by the Florida Department of Education.
The DCPS has cleaned the buildings and established protocols following CDC guidelines.
Even so, teachers like Ingram and parents like Ponniah are still not convinced there is adequate protection from the coronavirus.
The school bell rings early Thursday and their fears and concerns will either be realized or it will just be different school year in a pandemic environment.