MARION COUNTY, Fla. – The Marion County School District is still working to hire more staff and teachers for the upcoming year.
At Belleview High, teachers are training up and preparing for the Aug. 24 start.
Since March the district says 220 teachers have resigned and 74 retired. Right now, there are more than 60 openings for instructors.
"Schedules are still being finalized, class sizes being evened out. Overall I've noticed a decrease in my class size," said health occupations teacher, Stephanie Taddeo.
Taddeo said smaller class sizes means she's able to space out the desks in her classroom. She teaches health occupations - so hands-on labs are a must.
“We’re going to have to take the time after every class to stop what we’re doing and sanitize. From the mannequins to the tables ... basically any hard surface,” said Taddeo.
For core classes like Chemistry, a major challenge has been social distancing in classrooms.
“They need to use their masks because we won’t have the six feet,” said AICE Chemistry teacher Carmen Beltran. “Students are going to have their hand sanitizers, we’ll wipe and clean. Resources on paper are laminated so we can easily wipe them down, so we can still use the paper we are use to but in a safe way.”
AICE Math teacher, Michael Losito said he had to remove shelves and cabinets to make more room.
”The best way I could still try to still accommodate everyone in a class of 26, was to put them in two-person pods where they’re sitting side-by-side, but not facing each other,” said Losito.
Losito says the training and extra work will all be worth it when he sees his students.
“I am concerned, I personally don’t want to catch the virus. Seeing what’s happening to my own kids and the disappointment of things being canceled from Spring Break to summer trips, it’s starting to get to the point where I’m concerned about their mental health,” said Losito.
Marion County teachers will spend another week in training before schools open up. The seminars include topics like sanitization, building relationships with students and virtual teaching.
"Relationships and building relationships with our students very early on, in case we have to get ready for a second shut-down because we know that that's a reality that could happen. We want to make sure we've built that trust and procedures so students are ready to learn no matter what the situation is," said Principal Heather Guest.
“We just had an amazing seminar this morning about how to do collaborative stations ... how to do it while properly sanitizing. Making sure we’re not sharing too much equipment,” said Taddeo.
Some teachers said they are concerned about opening school during a pandemic, but said they feel safer with the protocols in place like one-way hallways, frequent cleaning and face coverings.
"We are here and we're going through all of this for them [student]. We are not here for us. We want them to truly understand that we believe in them and that's it's possible to still be able to get a solid education while going through this pandemic," said Taddeo.
The district said it’s confident they will have the staff they need in place when school starts. Click HERE to view a full list of current openings for Marion County Public Schools.