DCPS Chairman Warren Jones is asking students, parents, teachers to be patient and nimble

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Duval County School Board will be resuming their meeting this morning discussing the reopening plan and the changes that have to be made because of a new Florida executive order.

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran signed an executive order mandating school buildings open back up five days a week in August. This comes a day before DCPS planed on releasing their official reopening plan. Now DCPS has to reanalyze that plan.

“We had a plan in place that the green superintendent had a outline of how we would reopen schools starting August 10,” Chairman Warren Jones said. “Of course, all of that’s out the window now because, well, that plan had to be modified because of the Education Commission’s request that we have to have each school open five days a week.”

Jones says one of the hardest things to change is the middle and high school schedule due to certifications. Middle and High School teachers are certified for the specific class they teach, and there’s only so many teachers that have those certifications. This means there would be a shortage of teachers dedicated to Duval Homeroom, the online program, versus the in-school method.

“We encourage people to and our parents and teachers and students to be patient, be nimble. Things change. We thought we had a plan that was going to release yesterday. Of course, the Education Commission came out with the request on Monday so that that now would be modified,” Jones said. “And we’re working as quickly as we can because we want certainty and of course, the public does, too.”

LISTEN: DCPS Board Chairman Warren Jones speaks on reopening plan

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