Delta variant 'really trying us,' Palm Beach County superintendent says - wflx

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After just two weeks of school, the School District of Palm Beach County already has roughly one-third of the total number of COVID-19 cases it had during all of last academic year.

Superintendent Michael Burke delivered that sobering statistic Tuesday morning during a back-to-school breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches.

"This year is the bigger challenge," Burke said. "This delta variant is really trying us. And it's trying our systems."

According to the latest numbers from the School District of Palm Beach County, there have been 1,775 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the 2021/22 academic year started on Aug. 10, including 1,556 students and 219 employees.

As of Monday, 4,384 students have been told to stay home because of possible exposure to COVID-19.

Burke on Tuesday admitted the biggest challenge for the school district this year is manpower.

"It's keeping enough bus drivers, teachers, substitute teachers, and principals. We've had principals we've had to send home because they've been exposed or contracted COVID," Burke said. "So that's gonna be the real challenge is keeping people safe enough."

SPECIAL COVERAGE: State Of Education

All Palm Beach County public school students are now required to facial coverings inside school buildings and on school district transportation without the ability to opt out. The only exceptions are for children with certain medical conditions.

Burke said he hopes the effort will slow the transmission of COVID-19 within schools, adding that eight school districts around the state have imposed universal mask mandates impacting more than one million students.

"We are seeing, unfortunately, children going to the pediatric wards of the hospitals," Burke said. "And the [Palm Beach County School Board] did what they felt like they had to do to protect our students and staff, and went ahead and made that tough decision."

The superintendent said there were a couple of high schools where about 30 to 40 students showed up to school without masks on Monday, the first day of the mandate. Those students were all given a verbal warning and a mask to wear.

Burke said, though, if students continue to refuse to wear a facial covering, they could face disciplinary action, including being isolated from the rest of their classmates.

The school board is scheduled to hold a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss a potential legal challenge to Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent executive order which gives parents the final say over whether their children should be masked in school.

At this point, the Florida Department of Education has not announced any potential punishments for the School District of Palm Beach County for violating that emergency order.

Burke on Tuesday encouraged all students who are 12 and older to get vaccinated against COVID-19, stressing that it will allow them to remain in the classroom and avoid quarantining if they're exposed to the coronavirus.

"If a student is 12 or older and they've had the vaccine and they're not showing any symptoms, we can avoid disrupting their learning and keep them in the classroom," Burke said.

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Palm Beach County Superintendent Mike Burke speaks during back-to-school breakfast

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