TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Education Association (FEA) today released a 30-second commercial asserting that Florida’s parents and communities deserve transparently reported and trustworthy information about Covid-19 and public schools — and that government officials have made repeated attempts to stand in the way of the full truth about risks to students and educators.
“The governor and the education commissioner have been pressuring school districts and health departments to keep them from releasing relevant and important information about coronavirus in our schools,” said FEA President Andrew Spar. “Like any parent, I have a right to know what is happening in my child’s school.”
School districts statewide are struggling with how best to keep parents and communities informed about coronavirus cases and exposures. Their good faith efforts face serious headwinds from high-level officials. The state of Florida has gone so far as issuing gag orders on local health departments — in Duval, Orange and Flagler — keeping them from releasing Covid-19 data in schools.
The FEA spot will appear on cable television in the Tampa and Orlando areas for two weeks. It also is being shared on social media, and has been released in both English and Spanish.
As part of the ad, parents and other education stakeholders are asked to text SAFEKIDS to 31996 to learn more. FEA is urging education stakeholders to write the governor to demand transparently reported and trustworthy information about coronavirus infections and exposures in schools throughout the state.
See the ad:
https://youtu.be/rAzdE0yEZ0w (English)
https://youtu.be/VxKbgbqR_GA (Spanish)
For the information on Covid-19 in public schools gathered by FEA, go here: https://feaweb.org/covid19/fea-safe-schools-report/
CONTACT: Joni Branch, joni.branch@floridaea.org
The Florida Education Association is the state’s largest association of professional employees, with 150,000 members. FEA represents PreK-12 teachers, higher education faculty, educational staff professionals, students at our colleges and universities preparing to become teachers and retired education employees.
