Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday that schools would remain closed for the rest of the academic year, calling it a fairly easy decision since the prospect of reopening for just a few weeks in May offered little academic benefit.
“You had kind of a division among folks whether this was a good idea or not,” the governor said during a news conference in Tallahassee. “The last thing you want to do is force everyone to have school and have half the kids not show up because their parents didn’t want, their teachers didn’t want to do it.”
DeSantis, a Republican, said he understands the social impacts of kids not being able to see friends. He said he plans to ease some restrictions in the next phase so that “kids will have a little bit more to be able to do,” but he didn’t elaborate on what that would look like or when it might happen.