First day of school is here for many students across Bay Area

A lot of alarm clocks rang for the first time in months as students in nearly every Bay Area district returned to class Tuesday morning.

Students in Hardee, Highlands, Citrus, Hernando, Manatee, Sarasota, Pasco, Polk and Hillsborough counties return to the classroom today. With the delta variant surging in Florida, a few school districts faced last-minute decisions regarding face masks.

In Hillsborough County, as students head back to school they’ll be masked up once again unless their parents filled out an opt-out form.

"With all of the stuff going on, I don’t think we have a choice other than to wear a mask and keep our kids and teachers safe," says mother Emmanuella Uchegbu.

But it’s not for everyone.

Over the weekend, Hillsborough school leaders announced a new mask mandate for the start of the school year. Parents were given the option to tell the district their kids would not be wearing masks though. So far, more than 26,000 students have opted out.

"That's around 14 percent of our student body that we serve in district magnet schools," Superintendent Addison Davis said. "We know that that number is going to creep up every single day as we get through this week."

The district explained the policy will help protect students and staff while still giving families the ability to choose what’s best for them. 

The district will send principals and teachers daily updates on which of their students submitted the opt-out form. But if they see a child who isn’t on their list without a mask, they won’t enforce the mandate.

"If a child doesn't have a mask, we're assuming that they are opting out," Davis said. "We're going to, in this first week, try to have a touchpoint with our parents, with all of our parents from a teacher in a school with perspective to make sure to validate their stance and then that way that we're on the same page. So we want to respect the choice of our parents."

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But some parents say the opt-out clause leaves too many children unprotected. One mom told FOX 13 that her child has been undergoing treatment for leukemia for the last two years. She said keeping him out of school for a third year just isn’t feasible.

"I can't keep him home for three and a half years and expect him to be a normal adult someday," said Amy Sapien. "And I have to work. You know, they don't realize it's not just people over 65 that are fragile. You know, society is judged based on how it treats its most vulnerable members. And we're getting a big fat F here in Florida."

Hillsborough’s mask rules will stay in place until at least Sept. 3. Of the more 180,000 students in the district, 3,000 are enrolled in Hillsborough Virtual School. That’s down from the 3,300 enrolled at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. But more than 98% are back at brick and mortar.

The Hillsborough School District also said the pandemic has had an impact on staffing for bus drivers. They’re asking for patience and have announced they’ll be severely short on drivers at the start of the school year.

Also heading back to school are the students of Manatee County. On Tuesday morning, they continued a first day of school tradition at the Matzke Support Complex. Manatee County school administrators and the superintendent joined together to kick off the school year and send school buses on their way to pick up children.

Leading up to Tuesday, there were some big questions for parents as far as what the school year would look like. On Monday, the school board met to discuss what mask guidelines, if any, would be enforced at their schools throughout the district. 

Last month, Governor Ron DeSantis made it clear that mask mandates were not going to be allowed in Florida schools. If so, those schools could face consequences if they don't play by the rules. While some districts are finding ways around the governor's rule, the Manatee County school board ultimately decided a vote would not be needed on the issue. 

They said in their district, masks will remain optional. The district is still offering virtual school, so if families didn't feel comfortable with their student returning to in-person learning, they did have that option. 

For the most part, nearly all of Manatee County students are back in the classroom with their teachers.

It's a similar case in other counties, like Pasco County, where masks remain optional and officials are encouraging face coverings.

READ: Polk County’s first day of school opens with three new public schools

In Citrus County, there are two learning options: Citrus eSchool and traditional campus learning. While masks are not mandatory, the school district said they will be available on all school sites and school buses if anyone wishes to wear one. 

Hand sanitizing stations will remain in place on campuses. There will be isolation rooms at every school for students showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Cleaning protocols will remain the same this year. 

"Students and staff should monitor their symptoms daily," according to a news release by the school district. "Anyone with a fever or Covid- 19 related symptoms should NOT come to school."

Sarasota County school officials said they wanted to make the school year as normal as possible. All extracurricular activities will be available. They are asking students to social distance when possible.

Classrooms and high-touchpoints will be cleaned regularly, school officials said.