ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education’s original mandate ordering the state’s public schools to reopen by August 31 has tied the hands of school districts, despite the fact that a Circuit Court judge has issued a temporary injunction against that order, Orange County School board member Karen Dentel said Tuesday.

“A lot of the issues that people are frustrated with today are because the illogical mandate was thrust upon us by the threat of losing $22.5 million a month,” Dentel said. 

But she also acknowledged that it might be difficult to reverse OCPS’s decision to reopen schools to in-classroom instruction because students already are back on campus. 

“A lot of the decisions are going to be hard to undo, no matter what the outcome [of the state’s appeal of the temporary injunction],” Dentel said. 

Dentel’s comments came as three Central Florida school districts —  Orange, Brevard, and Volusia —  Tuesday discussed how the ruling from Circuit Court Judge Charles Dodson on Monday in a lawsuit the Florida Education Association filed against the state could impact their reopening.

Dodson issued a temporary injunction against the state’s executive order to reopen public schools by August 31, despite the coronavirus pandemic. In his ruling, the judge said the Florida Constitution requires the state ensure schools are operating safely and that Florida officials were ignoring that mandate and giving school districts no "meaningful alternative" to hold class without reopening schools because they risk losing school funding if they don't reopen. The Department of Education has appealed the ruling.

Volusia County is the only Central Florida school district that has not started face-to-face instruction yet.

During public comment, some people called for the district to push back the start date now that they can without threat.

“It empowers you as the constitutional officers for Volusia County schools to make the decisions that work for our community,” said one person who called in for public comment.

But Brevard Public Schools attorney Paul Gibbs explained that since the state has appealed the judge’s decision, districts can’t take action yet even if they wanted.

“When a state agency files an appeal, it acts as an automatic stay, under the appellate rules, so we are now in a holding pattern as far as what the order means for the state and the districts,” Gibbs said.

Some Teachers Still Hoping Schools Will Make Safety a Priority

Freedom High School teacher Matt Panzano said he had mixed feelings when he heard about Monday’s ruling in the FEA lawsuit.

“I’m both excited, relieved and at the same time, frustrated,” Panzano said. 

He said he believes Orange County’s board made the decision to go back to face-to-face learning this month because of pressure from the state government.

But now that a judge has ruled in favor of teachers’ unions, Panzano said he hopes the district will rethink that decision.

“I really do hope, as I’ve always hoped, that they’ll make the right logical decision, now that this has given them more options,” Panzano said.

Panzano said he understands a lot of students need face-to-face instruction, but he just wants school boards to make decisions based on safety.

“If we’re not putting safety first, what does that say about how the students are treated? What does that say about how the teachers are being treated?” Panzano said. 

School board members from all three districts said they will monitor what comes out of the state’s appeal to see how it could change their options.