MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami-Dade schools are continuing to distribute tablets to ease the transition into remote learning.
The district distributed tablets to students Saturday at Miami Southridge Senior High School.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said that schools will be closed for a week beginning on March 16th and that 32,000 devices have been handed out so far.
The decision was made over confusion of whether a city worker in Bay Harbor Islands, who works with the district in an after school program was positive or negative for COVID-19, with dozens of children possibly exposed.
Carvalho said, “We actually have the benefit of a 14-day window which is parallel to the incubation period of the coronavirus. What that tells us is that during that time period we have the ability to actually identify any employee, any student who has directly or indirectly interfaced with anyone else and be able to self isolate or quarantine.”
Students have mixed feelings about the closures.
Andrew Tabares, a freshman at Southridge High said, “I’d rather it still be open to be honest with you. I feel like it’s just too much work to have to go home and do all this stuff but I guess we’re getting done what we need to get done.”
Alejandro Acevedes, a sophomore at Southridge High said, “A lot of the kids don’t know how to do the right protocol to keep themselves clean, or keep others clean, so I think shutting down school is the right move.”
District officials are reaching out to families who lack internet connection at home.
Carvalho said, “Comcast, Xfinity, on the basis of a simple request, agreed to provide free Wi-fi connectivity internet access for free to everyone in our school system for up to 60 days. I think that is remarkable.”
Families who depend on schools for free food will be dependent on cafeterias remaining open.
Carvalho added, “We made a decision not only to open certain feeding sites during the closure. All of our schools will be open to provide hot meals in a grab-and-go model.”
Maria Izquierdo, the Miami-Dade Chief Academic Officer said, “We have been staging all kinds of scenarios district wide to make sure that in the event of school closures we were prepared and we can mobilize our technology and use the resources we have at our disposal.”
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