A few weeks ago, Superintendent Scott Fritz said a hybrid model for reopening schools would be too costly in Volusia. I was looking into that before Trump/DeSantis/others made it clear they expect schools to fully reopen, but it's worth slowing down to look at it. Thread:

When I asked the district how it would be too costly to do some mix of in-person and online learning, spokeswoman Kelly Schulz emailed me four considerations. First, technology. https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20200708/volusia-flagler-schools-planned-for-in-person-classes-before-state-mandate

The district would want to make sure every student had access to a laptop or tablet, she said, which is not the case right now. Getting there would cost an estimated $15 million, plus there's a worldwide shortage of those devices and it would take 4-6 months to get them.

Second, feeding students. Meals for fewer students would cost more to produce. And it would take less staff, meaning working hours would be reduced. Plus, it would be a challenge to get meals to students who weren't on campus.

The next two considerations are confusing to me because they have to do with social distancing — which, in theory, will need to take place in some form no matter how many students are on campus.

The district said that in order to fully social distance kids on buses, they'd need to add 975 buses to their fleet for a total of $103 million. Obviously, this isn't happening. I asked how this would prevent a hybrid model, but not full reopening, and did not get a response.

Same thing on their last point, classroom space. The district uses 3500 classrooms for instruction, and would need more if fewer students could be in there. However, if fewer students were on campuses under a hybrid model, I don't know how this would be a problem.

Everywhere I look, people are asking why a hybrid model won't work. There are a lot of other arguments against it (limited access to childcare, etc.), but that was Volusia's response to the question of why it would cost too much. The district will release more details on July 15.