Welcome to

Four Florida School districts, Duval, Sumpter, Collier and Union will be the first to pilot new remote learning plans as Florida School buildings remain closed through the middle of April.

Instead of picking kids up on the corner, bus drivers among others will be delivering and picking up assignments for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade.

“Just like we are doing with food delivery. Now we are delivering assignments,” said Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran.

All learning for grades 6 through 12 will be done digitally.

It starts Monday in four counties.

The other 63 start in the weeks following spring break.

“Even though the campuses are closed, school is still going forward. It’s just going to be remotely,” said Corcoran.

All standardized testing is cancelled.

School grades will remain what they are for another year.

“And especially our high school seniors, to the extent that there are some graduation requirements that you hadn’t completed, that’s deemed as waived or not necessary,” said Corcoran.

And the Florida Education Association is applauding the quick work.

“This is the best way possible right now to do virtual schools. To do the remote learning, and teachers are ready to do that,” said FEA President Fedrick Ingram.

Parents or teachers with questions are being encouraged to contact their local superintendents.

Compassion is the word of the day.

“Let’s say, you get so many hypotheticals. My high school senior did this this and this, but he was hypothetically five hours short on community service hours. Then fine. Our default is compassion. If that an issue and not something we anticipated, we’re going to be compassionate and allow the child to get the five hours and go on,” said Corcoran.

Money now being used for in school services will be repurposed to provide digital devices and even internet service for students currently without.

The one thing the remote plan doesn’t address is how parents can supervise their children during the day.

One hope is a federal stimulus check that could provide funding for someone to take time off, or to hire someone.