The mandate to reopen schools across Florida will remain in effect after an appeals court ruled on Monday in favor of state education officials, as multiple lawsuits challenging the order’s constitutionality move forward.
“As to school districts, none have been ‘forced’ under the Emergency Order to offer in-person instruction for students,” the judges continued. “It is left to the individual school districts to determine whether offering in-person instruction poses risks to the welfare and safety of their students, teachers, and school personnel.”
“That’s the whole point of what the governor laid out,” said Corcoran. “Parental choice works, and we know that we can provide that education. Whether it is face-to-face, whether it is distance learning, we can provide it for those parents who want that choice, and they’re going to have good outcomes, and we can do it in a safe manner.”
Corcoran was joined by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Scott Atlas, a top medical adviser to President Donald Trump. Atlas said that evidence is “incontrovertible” that children are at very low risk from the COVID-19, and do not transmit the illness as much as adults do.
“We can’t panic. There’s no place for fear in public policy,” said Atlas. “The children are not at any significant risk, although there are exceptions. But the exceptions, of course, exist in every medical illness. If you are a doctor you understand that, they do not overwhelm the rest of the evidence.”