OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Keily Rodriguez said she got a phone call from the Osceola County School District on Tuesday night about their plans on reopening schools and decided her 11-year-old daughter will not return to school in August.
"We had a family meeting last night and I always like to ask her for opinion and she said she is going to miss her friends but she is scared, she is scared she's going to get sick," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said she’s glad the district was able to give parents the choice of whether or not their children should return back to class and said her daughter will do virtual learning instead.
Osceola County Schools are giving parents three options to choose from to enroll their child in:
- Standard face-to-face instruction
- Digital learning at their assigned school with a traditional schedule
- Virtual learning for grades K thru 12 which allows for non-traditional school hours
[READ MORE: Lake County Public Schools offer parents different learning options for fall semester]
School board chairman Kelvin Soto said having students in class is what they prefer and the district does have plans in place to try and keep students safe.
"The safety of the students and the staff is gotta be number one and so yes, not coming to school hurts the students no matter what," Soto explained.
Another parent, Xiomara Cross, said she’s thinking her 10-year-old son will likely return to school in August, despite the number of COVID-19 cases.
“I would love to stay with him at home so he can be safe until a vaccine is out there and there’s some type of a cure but ...I gotta go to work. I have to take the risk with him,” Cross said.
Parents have until July 15 to make a decision about enrollment. The first day of school is August 10.