Jacksonville – The Florida Board of Education has unanimously adopted two rules regarding harassment and student attendance with respect to COVID-19 protocols.
Scheduled a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected a mask mandate for Florida schoolchildren, President Tom Grady, along with members of his board of directors, publicly voted to allow student victims of “COVID-harassment.” 19 ”to receive Hope Scholarship funding to attend a different school.
Initiated in 2018, the Hope Scholarships are designed to protect students who experience beatings, harassment, hazing, intimidation, kidnapping, assault, robbery, sexual offenses, beatings, threats and / or intimidation. Kindergarten to Grade 12 students, who receive scholarship funds, may be transferred to a school in their district or to a private school that accepts scholarship students, or they may attend a school in a district completely. different.
Council General Counsel Matt Mears has assured the public that the Hope Scholarship transfer procedures offer parents the opportunity to impact the education and health options of those who suffer from bullying because of COVID. Problems, he says, which “interfere considerably with a student’s academic performance.”
Mears defined harassment as “any threatening, discriminatory, insulting or dehumanizing verbal, written or physical behavior suffered by a student in connection with or as a result of school district protocols for COVID, including face coverings, separation of students and COVID19 testing requirements. “
Mears confirmed that funding for the Hope Scholarship comes from qualifying sales tax contributions from the purchase of a motor vehicle.
“Hope scholarship money is not money that has been allocated to districts,” he said. “When people buy a car, they can choose to donate to the Hope Scholarship. These funds are then made available to help parents bring their child out of a situation that is 100% consistent with a parent’s right to direct the education and health of their child.
The attendance of the students was also at the rendezvous. In most cases, students are required to attend school to earn attendance credit. However, due to COVID, as long as students are working remotely with the school’s approved curriculum, they will be considered in attendance.
“To continue their education and earn credits, students must have access to class homework, class materials, and instructors to help students with class homework,” Mears continued. “The goal is to avoid learning loss for students in quarantine so that students are not disadvantaged or have no learning loss.”
The Duval County School Board allows parents to submit documents if they want their children to opt out of the county mask mandate.
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