Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education have directed the Escambia and Santa Rosa School Districts to open on Wednesday, Oct. 14, regardless of the condition of their schools.
As of Sunday afternoon, Escambia County school officials were still assessing the damage to their schools. The school district officials didn’t appear at the Saturday or Sunday press conference.
I asked Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore, “Do we know kind of what their timetable is on opening up the schools again?”
- “Excellent question. No, not right now,” he replied. “They’re still doing assessments right now. I know several schools did take a pretty good hit … Of course, they’ve got down trees as well. They want to clean up as much as they can for the kids to get back and make sure there’s no overhanging dangers.”
In Santa Rosa County, sources said 16 of the 37 public schools still don’t have power. The administrative offices are running on a generator.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education can order the doors open on Wednesday, but they won’t be the ones standing in a classroom with downed trees outside and no power overhead. Escambia officials are still assessing damage. I
- Parents deserve more than a deadline. They deserve a straight answer from their school districts before they put their kids on a bus.
What happened to local governments know local needs
Our schools and homes were hit by Hurricane Hugo 9/22/1989. There was no power for two weeks. September is summer in Charlotte, NC. Schools are not built for no air conditioning.
Let Ron try to keep kids engaged and quiet when they are hot and miserable! They still have trees in their yards like a war zone.
DeSantis and his little mini mes need to stop putting out orders until the districts can make full assessments and/or remove any debris, make any repairs needed.
Perhaps Governor DeSantis has not seen the pictures and videos from our hurricane ravaged area. Special attention to Milton HS. We are not fully powered yet. The majority have not had a warm shower since Friday. Clothes and dishes have not been washed because we have no power.
My daughter is a teacher in a middle school in Gulf Breeze. Her home has lost 1/4 of its roof, the rain came straight through. The rest of the roof is leaking in many places. The ceilings are ruined, the floors are ruined and obviously the roof is ruined. Outside is even worse. She spent all day yesterday along with her brother in law nailing
Plywood on the roof and covering that with tarps. Part of yesterday and all of
today was spent clearing small trees,
bushes vines and a shed torn apart and smashed with tools and supplies in it to the street. The 6’ wooden fence is
worthless all three sides and two gates.
It needs to be carted to the street with the other debris. Her car has been damaged from falling and blowing tree limbs. This doesn’t even go into the two 85’ trees that fell and must be cleaned up. She has worked the last two days from early morning to dusk. She is no lone person with what she is dealing with. This area was hard hit and the
residents are exhausted and need rest
and clean bodies and clothes to go back to work. Needless to say, she along with the rest will open schools on Wednesday but they will not be at the
top of their games.
Sincerely,
Patricia Mackey
Santa Rosa County Resident