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AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2020 | TWO DOLLARS
VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 8
County OK’s COVID-19 relief for businesses By Bill Thompson Deputy Editor
T
Kristen Givens, a teacher, works with students in her classroom as Andrew Massengill, 7, adjusts his face shield. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.
Back to school
Gullet outlines short-, long term vision By Brad Rogers Executive Editor
More than 43,000 students will be enrolled with about 70% of them expected to be at their respective schools for face-toface instruction.
W
ith Marion County Public Schools on the threshold of opening for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, new Superintendent of Schools Diane Gullet on Wednesday addressed the business community for the first time and outlined her vision for the immediate future as well as the long term. When local schools open Monday, Gullet said more than 43,000 students will be enrolled. About 70 percent of them are expected to be at their respective schools for face-to-face instruction. Parents and students were given the option of in-person learning or online instruction when reopening plans were unveiled. She warned those attending the Ocala/Marion County Chamber and Economic Partnership’s monthly breakfast that as
Diane Gullett. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.
parents and business owners they can expect “perpetual disruption” in the coming weeks and months as the schools deal with the impact of COVID-19 on students, teachers and other staff. When students or teachers are identified as being positive for COVID-19, they and the people they have been in contact with at school will be sent home to quarantine. “Our task is to ensure we’re providing a safe environment for our students and staff,” Gullett said.
She said the school district is working closely with the county Health Department to ensure schools can respond quickly to suspected cases of the virus so students or teachers can be isolated and tested expeditiously. Masks will be required on everyone on school property and intensive cleaning will be part of the new school culture, she said. Nonetheless, she added, “We know these cases will be disruptive to a class, to a school.” When schools open on Monday, the district is
expecting 20,316 elementary, 10,208 middle school and 12,091 high school students. Gullett said that 68 percent of the district’s students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program -- a clear indicator of the number of poor families in Marion County. Finally, she said the district’s 262 school buses, which make more than 3,000 bus stops every day and costs $21 million a year to operate, is the 84th largest school bus fleet in the nation. While the short term for MCPS is less than
he aid package for Marion County businesses can now be opened. On Tuesday, the County Commission appropriated nearly $7.5 million for an account that the Ocala/ Marion County Chamber and Economic Partnership can tap to bolster local companies rocked by coronavirus. The funding comes courtesy of the federal CARES Act, through which Marion County received $63 million for COVID-19 relief programs. CEP President and CEO Kevin Sheilley said on Tuesday companies are already interested in the organization’s Moving Biz Forward initiative, which was unveiled earlier this month in anticipation of commissioners supporting this plan. The CEP went live with its application website on Friday, and so far companies had come forward seeking a total of $600,000, Sheilley said. Potential applicants do not have to be CEP members to seek aid. Assistant County Administrator Jeannie Rickman explained that the programs will be funded with $7.1 million. The county set aside 5 percent, or $355,000, for the CEP’s cost to administer the applications. Sheilley said some early applicants don’t qualify. But, he added, the fact they lined up even before the money was approved does “speak to a need.” “We don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, We don’t want to be Oprah Winfrey where everyone in the audience gets $2,000,” he said. “We will target to where the need is.” Sheilley added that he believed two of the four programs the CEP created will prove popular. The first is the Bridge to See Funding, page 3
See School, page 5
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