Florida Governor Declares All Schools Will Be Re-Opening In The Fall, “If Walmart and Home Depot Are Essential, So Are Schools”

The big question circulating the U.S. right now is whether or not schools will be reopening in the fall. While some of the nation’s top health officials oppose the idea, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is all for reopening.

Gov. DeSantis defends his argument by stating that schools are indeed essential.

“We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential — it included Walmart, it included Home Depot,” he said on Thursday. “If Walmart and Home Depot [are essential], then educating our kids is absolutely essential.”

DeSantis made the comments days after Trump announced that he will be urging governors to reopen schools this fall, despite the rise in cases.

“It’s irresponsible to talk about how, if schools will reopen in the fall for Florida,” Florida Education Association President Fedrick Ingram told CNN. Florida has become a hotspot for the virus, with over 230,000 cases. “Right now we need to be talking about how we get this virus under control, how do we keep schools and our communities safe,” he continued onto say.

Both DeSantis and the CTA agree that face to face learning is ideal. Yet, the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association said in a statement that they will not be supporting the reopening plan as it “could expose students, teachers or their families to illness, hospitalization or death.”

The decision remains up to the parent, at least in the state of Florida. DeSantis writes, “if a parent wants to opt for virtual education, they should absolutely be able to do that. We shouldn’t be forcing them to do any types of decisions.”  But, “I have no doubts we can do this safely,” he adds.

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,300 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded.