Goodbye kisses, "boo-hoo breakfasts,"and even some masks — though they're optional. Those were some of the shared experiences among about 90,000 students and their families Monday morning during the return to 154 campuses acrossJacksonville.
Unlike the last two years, it also marked the return of trusted rites of passage that were stripped for safety during the coronavirus pandemic — like parents having the ability to walk their young children all the way into campus buildings or sit with them for free breakfast before leaving kindergarteners for their first day.
"We call it the boo-hoo breakfast because parents and students will sometimes struggle on their first day," said Superintendent Diana Greene Monday evening at a press conference. "This morning I saw no tears, but I know some of our parents were having a hard time letting go. The fact that we could let them walk to class was a treat — it felt like we were back to a somewhat normal school year.
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This school year, the district estimated that about 90,000 students reported to class today not including charter schools, down from its estimate of nearly 108,000 last year. Official enrollment figures will not be released until the tenth day of classes.
"The kids were thrilled to be back," said parent Matt Hartley whose two children attend Landon Middle School in sixth and eighth grade.
Students were met with some changes this year, including scaled-back COVID-19 protocols and some larger classes.
In the Ortega area, Stephanie Scruggs walked hand in hand with her daughter, Jaela Terry, 6, and son, Charles Terry, 5, who were entering first grade and kindergarten respectively. They crossed Timuquana Road with help from a crossing guard to enter Venetia Elementary.
Venetia Elementary short of teachers, as is much of Duval County
As of last month, Venetia Elementary reported two teacher vacancies of its 24 classroom instructor positions. In turn, the Terry children and their elementary and middle school peers across Duval may see an average of 1.5 additional students in their classes to compensate for statewide "critical" teacher shortages.
The district reported 389 teacher shortages as of Monday morning.
Across the way in Jacksonville's Northside, fatherStephen Williams was spotted sharing a tender kiss goodbye and good luck with his 8-year-old, Aaliyah Williams, as she headed toward Sallye B. Mathis Elementary.
Clusters of young people — and their parents — could be seen walking toward Mathis Elementary,Jean Ribault Middle and Jean Ribault High School. High schools are projected to see an average increase of one student per class this year to combat staff shortages.
As students trailed in, several dozens could be seen wearing masks Monday morning. Masks remain optional, but health experts say they could potentially slow the spread as COVID-19 continues to spread in Duval County.
According to the New York Times, the community level of COVID-19 in Duval County remains "high" as of this week and the test positivity rate is "very high," suggesting that cases are being "significantly undercounted."
Still, those cases will not be tracked by the school district.
For the first time in two-and-a-half years, the district's COVID-19 case tracking dashboard is blank.
District officials announced last week that positive COVID-19 cases will no longer be tracked or published online.The district is also discontinuing its nightly calls and elementary school letters about individual cases at schools.
By the end of the school day, the district reported nearly 200 buses faced delays during their afternoon routes with delays stretching anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes past slated arrival times.
Growing pains with bus routes are expected to an extent the first day of school. But parents who exchanged route delay information on social media say this goes well beyond that scope.
Across the country, school districts are facing anational bus driver shortage that has been brewing since the coronavirus pandemic. Monday morning, the district reported as many as 135 delays, with some students not making it to school until around lunchtime.
Greene said the company the school district has a contract with for bus drivers is in the process of hiring over 100 new drivers to help serve Duval County.
"Our hope is that over the next couple of weeks that will continue to be addressed," Greene said. "Hopefully we will see those delays get better."
Her final takeaway to the community: "Patience and engagement," she said. "The learning process has already begun."
By the numbers
Here are some of the latest figures provided by Duval Schools:
Schools:154
Employees:11,343
Teachers: 6,562
Paraprofessionals:1,134
Teacher vacancies:389
Paraprofessional vacancies: 111
Buses:735
Bus miles driven last year:8,946,761.5 miles
Meals served last year:19,171,899
Free breakfasts and lunches are still provided to all Duval County Public Schools students this year as part of the National School Lunch Program.
Emily Bloch is a youth culture andeducation reporter for The Florida Times-Union. Follow her on Twitteror email her. Sign up for her newsletter.
