A spring break that didn't end: 5 years later
In 2020, kids and teachers went on spring break like they would any other year, except there was a catch no one expected: It was the last time they'd step foot in schools around the county until the following autumn.
"We went off to spring break and never came back," recalled Anthony Colucci, president of Brevard Federation of Teachers.
Over the past five years, teachers and students have navigated virtual learning, in-person learning before vaccinations were widely available, a ban on mask mandates and lasting challenges Colucci and experts say were caused or exacerbated by COVID.
The virus also kickstarted broader culture wars and moves for expanded parental rights in schools, with conservative groups like Moms for Liberty forming initially to push back against COVID mitigations such as mask mandates and the closure of schools.
"Government entities, whether it be local school boards, states and even the federal bureaucrats, were setting policies in place that were infringing on rights as Americans that we have traditionally held so closely," said Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Tina Descovich.
"Mask mandates or keeping schools closed ... was just an outward representation of some of the things that were happening."
While some parents reported feeling safer sending their kids to school with these measures in place to stop the spread of COVID, others began a campaign against the school district based on the idea that face masks were harming their children.
Moms for Liberty coalesced over the issue in early 2021. School board meetings stretched into hours-long affairs, with public comment turning volatile as people argued for and against mitigation measures. In fall 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis forbade mask mandates at public schools, with the district defying him as kids returned to school in the midst of the Delta wave. By October, Brevard gave parents the choice to opt their child out of wearing a mask, then dropped the requirement altogether in the spring semester.
Watching all of this happen kickstarted parents' awareness of what was happening within schools, Descovich said.
"As parents were ... waking up to the things going on in the education realm and at their schools, they became more and more concerned about curriculum," she said. "Folks were now organized, so they were able to share when they found concerning curriculum or concerning library books or concerning policies in general, and so there was a way people were now connected and could unify together to bring their voice forward to complain about the things they were concerned about."