At an education roundtable discussion in Clearwater, Florida today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “I don’t think you’re going to have a school district in the state that is going virtual for the whole semester.”

The governor is apparently looking through rose-colored glasses.  No one has apparently told DeSantis that four large school districts have already announced plans to start the school year with remote-only classes, with the announcement today that Miami-Dade will not open classrooms to start the year, according to Politico.

Even though DeSantis has threatened funding to school districts that don’t hold in-classroom lessons, school districts around the state have been notifying students, parents and teachers to prepare for remote-learning come the first day of school.

Florida is in the midst of a coronavirus surge, being labeled a “red zone” state because of the burst in COVID cases.  Tuesday, all but one county in the state reported a new case of coronavirus, indicative of the extent of the virus’s spread.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that teachers in the state may strike if the safety of students, teachers and staff are not considered.

You can’t say, at the end, ‘Okay, I just give up.’ You have to actually be true to your convictions,” Weingarten said. “And if that means a safety strike as a last resort, that’s what it means. If you believe that the safety and health of people are really sacrosanct, then you’ve got to be able to sacrifice for it.”