DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - It’s back to school time and Broward County students will not be heading back to the classroom, but instead, to their computer screens.
Jaliyah and Jeremiah Joseph, who have started third grade and sixth grade, respectively, began their first day of distance learning with positive affirmations from their father.
They clapped and recited, “I am a leader not a follower, I am blessed, I am smart and I can do all things in Christ,” before getting into a group hug.
“It’s like a morning daily motivation. He motivates us to do our work,” said Jeremiah, who attends Apollo Middle School.
He and his sister got right to work in their at-home classrooms. First, they had to deal with the jitters of meeting new friends.
“It was pretty weird because you’re not with them, but you’re online talking. It’s kinda weird,” Jeremiah said.
“I was worried about meeting the teacher because it’s the beginning of the school year, and I know that teacher, but I don’t know much about her,” said Jaliyah, who attends Orange Brook Elementary School.
Their mother Lorraine, who is a teacher at Orange Brook Elementary School, was logging into her class in the next room.
“The first day of school was pretty nerve-wracking at first, but once I logged in and got everything allocated, it went pretty well,” she said.
It was a smooth transition to online learning, but the county had a technical hiccup.
“When I first logged in, I was a little nervous because I couldn’t get in, so I’m clicking and then… I think for me too was more like just taking it easy, breathing, relax, so that I can reevaluate the situation and just refresh my screen,” Lorraine said.
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie made a stop at a Davie elementary school, Wednesday morning.
7News crews got the chance to attend the tour of Nova Blanch Forman Elementary School, located at 3521 Davie Rd.
Runcie walked with the crew through empty hallways — not what people are used to seeing on the first day of school.
Teachers had the opportunity to conduct virtual teaching from home or from their classroom.
About 50% of the teachers chose to work from home, while the other 50% decided to work from their classroom.
Miss Billingsley kept the energy up with her third grade class despite the fact that every desk in her classroom remains empty.
“Can I get an ‘Oh, yeah!'” she said via her computer.
Runcie used the opportunity to visit the teachers who opted to work from school grounds.
“We wish you were in the classroom, but we want to make sure that everybody is safe,” he said to students via a computer.
Runcie talked about how hard they have been working over the summer to get ready for e-learning.
“Our campuses are closed for instruction in the classroom, but learning never closes in Broward,” he said. “We’re seeing the kids online. We know some of them are going to have some challenges as we try to work through computer and tech problems that they may have, but I want to encourage every parent, any family, if you’re having any issues, our principals, administrators, our staff — they’re here at our schools. They’re there to take your calls and help you work through any issues or challenges or questions you may have.”
In Sunrise, the school district handed out meals to students who needed them most.
He also had a message for those parents who think the district is being too careful.
“We need to listen to our public health experts, our medical experts, which is what we do,” he said, “and at the current time, it isn’t safe for us to fully open our schools.”
The focus for the first few days is on building relationships, letting families get into a routine at home and working through technical problems.
“Raise your hand if you are still having trouble getting into Canvas,” fourth grade teacher Attiya Batool said.
The district’s Canvas system gave some teachers and students trouble logging in Wednesday morning, but the issue was resolved in about 20 minutes.
“Basically 15 to 20 minutes, when high school students came on, there was a heavy load trying to log onto the system at the same time. That was resolved very quickly,” Runcie said.
Runcie said there would be regular weekly check-ins on COVID-19 data to monitor how things are going, so that they will be able to properly reassess the plan in October to see if it is safe, at that point, to open campuses to students.
“The moment we see the trend lines going in the right direction, we will not hesitate a moment to move forward to open our schools and get our kids back in our classrooms,” said Runcie.
Jaliyah said she’s looking forward to going back to her real classroom soon, but for now, she feels safer at home.
“I’m looking forward to, like, going really back to school and not really, like, online. I really want to go to school and see my friends,” she said.
Those that may come upon technical difficulties are encouraged to reach out to trained administrators who are on standby to offer help.
Runcie said the system worked well. At around 1 p.m., there were a total of about 197,000 teachers and students logged in at the same time.
The school district will be reevaluating the COVID-19 situation in about two weeks.
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