Dozens of math textbooks were rejected by the Florida Department of Education after officials said the publishers were attempting to indoctrinate students.

The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association resolved its impasse with the Orange County Public School board late Friday night, following a “long and tense process” as the union said it fought for fair treatment of teachers.

Orange County Public Schools will mandate masks for students for 60 days.

The impasse came as a result of an unacceptable COVID-19 safety plan while cases of the virus are rapidly spreading.

The union representing Orange County teachers is raising concerns after the school district revised its health and safety recommendations.

Orange County Public Schools is set to vote on its mask policy this week.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Spring break is almost over for most Central Florida students and many will return to the classroom on Monday with new CDC recommendations in place. The agency announced on Friday it is relaxing its guidelines when it comes to social distancing in schools. Officials with Orange County Public Schools said they are in the process of reviewing the new guidelines. AdFlagler County schools said they continue to rely on the CDC’s guidance throughout the pandemic. “Our classrooms have been arranged to maximize social distancing wherever possible and will continue with our other mitigation protocols,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Since Jan. 1, there have been eight reported cases connected to the campus, all but one are school staff. An email obtained by News 6 shows Knight asked school staff not to take Friday off because of the staffing shortage. “We have been stretched to the limits with teachers, staff, and administration out this week… I want to THANK everyone who has assisted! Our entire administration team is quarantined and working from home, so we don’t have any leadership on campus,” part of a Dr. Phillips High School staff email to OCCTA read. Since August, there have 50 reported cases tied to the school, according to the dashboard.

SANFORD, Fla. – More than 4,500 students have opted to return to Seminole County campuses next month after spending the first nine weeks taking classes online, according to school district officials. Seminole County Public Schools spokesman Michael Lawrence said Thursday that 4,546 students chose face-to-face learning for the next nine weeks of school. Nearly 6,000 of the 26,529 students learning remotely through the Seminole Connect program will not change their method of learning. The news comes days after Orange County announced that 15,792 of their students are changing from learning virtually to face-to-face. CHANGING OPTIONS: Thousands of more OCPS students are switching to face-to-face learning for the second nine weeks.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins on Tuesday night announced the number of students who are switching their learning options for the second nine weeks of school. Jenkins said 15,792 students are changing from learning virtually to face-to-face and 983 are going from classrooms and switching to LaunchED. The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association posted on its Facebook page Tuesday night, asking several teachers to take action. CHANGING OPTIONS: Thousands of more OCPS students are switching to face-to-face learning for the second nine weeks. “If we have 15,000 students coming back -- usually about a third of our students ride our buses -- so that means we may have an additional 5,000 students riding buses,” Jenkins added.

Orange County Classroom Teachers Association President Wendy Doromal claims the school district's new COVID-19 database is inadequate. If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools launched an online dashboard to track COVID-19 cases in schools, however, Orange County Classroom Teachers Association President Wendy Doromal claims the new database is inadequate. The OCPS site lists the cases by date and allows users to click on specific schools to see when cases were reported. “We are wondering about the inaccuracy of the dashboard,” Doromal said. She says the number of COVID-19 cases on the dashboard are not adding up. At the moment it reflects the number of positive cases district-wide and a breakdown by school.

Olympia High School will shift the entire school to LaunchEd@Home learning for the next two weeks after several positive COVID-19 cases were confirmed and connected through Florida Department of Health contract tracing, according to an announcement from Orange County Public Schools. All 922 face-to-face students and 190 staff members will return to campus on Monday, Sept. 21, school officials said. According to FDOH, these cases are a result of community spread and not spread at school. The Florida Department of Health in Orange County provided specific information to the families directly impacted. “We all know that students don’t teleport to their desks.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. The Orange County School Board passed a revised face covering policy during Tuesdays school board meeting. The revision presented to the board when students would not be required to wear face masks. I want you to face the same consequences, that you are making us face. Chair of the school board Teresa Jacobs spoke up in response to the criticism. The medical advisory committee plans to meet twice this week and board members said they expect some type of guidance ahead of the districts face to face reopening on Aug. 21.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – After seven hours of negotiating on Thursday, the Orange County Classroom Teacher’s Association officially declared an impasse with Orange County Public Schools on reopening schools amid the coronavirus. “We could not reach an agreement with the District after weeks and weeks of bargaining so the union declared impasse,” Wendy Doromal, President of the CTA, said. We got email after email after email from terrified teachers.”Re-opening brick-and-mortar schools will happen, according to the school district, in alignment with the state’s emergency order. Doromal said the CTA hopes the district will waive the magistrate hearing which is what comes next after an impasse is declared. The school year in Orange County starts on Monday with virtual and LaunchEd students.

Last night, they hosted a virtual town hall, which Doromal said had 2,110 participants. She said one of the questions they asked was: Do you feel it's safe to reopen schools at full capacity this Fall? I think thats a diverse reflection of our community, and of the teachers, Doromal said. This week, Doromal said they had a bargaining meeting to present some of the concerns they've received to the district. Doromal tells News 6, Everyone wants to go back, but we want to go back when its safe.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. With Gov. Ron DeSantis announcement Thursday that he plans to reopen schools for in-person learning in the fall, News 6 spoke with Wendy Doromal, the president of the Orange County Teachers Classroom Association. Doromal said she represents more than 14,000 teachers, and said the majority of those teachers do not feel safe returning to their classrooms. But Orange County schools, Seminole County and Osceola County school surveys show the majority of their district parents said they did want in-person learning. The Lake County school district said, what they've received so far, shows a majority in favor of returning to brick and mortar school buildings.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Members of the Florida Education Association said they are disappointed the task force for reopening schools, created by the governor and education commissioner, is made up of predominately business people and not educators themselves. They say they hope the task force will consider their recommendations for reopening schools. Highlights from the FEA’s recommendations include:Temporary suspension of standardized testing and school grades for the next school year. “We’re not only going to have to test adults, we’ll have to test teachers and every student. To view the FEA’s recommendations for reopening schools click here.

The budget proposal released Monday is slightly more than the state’s current $91 billion spending plan. The budget proposal includes more than $600 million to raise the minimum salary for teachers to $47,500, which DeSantis said will boost the pay for more than 101,000 teachers. Her starting salary was $39,500 four years ago and now she earns $43,000. Currently, she says the starting salary for a teacher in Orange County is $40,000. You can’t retain teachers if there is not a progressive rise in your pay year to year.”The governor’s proposal also includes $75 million in grants to help make schools more secure.