Dozens of teachers and hundreds of students from MAST Academy in Virginia Key are in quarantine, according to a report from over the weekend.
The Miami Herald reported that 25 teachers and over 200 students were isolating in response to an increase of at least a dozen COVID-19 cases last week.
According to the Herald, substitutes would be available for all teachers put into quarantine.
In a statement Saturday, the president of the Miami-Dade teacher's union, Karla Hernandez-Mats, said the rise in cases at MAST and other schools sites was "detrimental and a sign of community negligence."
"This virus is not being propagated within our schools, but rather being brought in from the outside and putting everyone at risk," the statement said. "Our teachers and students are exhausted and until the community behaves responsibly and rigorously follows the CDC guidelines, these interruptions will continue to be our norm. Schools with such high numbers of detected cases should go into full quarantine to ensure safety."
Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials responded that they continue to follow public health guidelines.
"Close social gatherings or interactions with members outside of one’s household have been found to be the leading causes of spread, not in-person schooling," the district's statement read. "The District continues to urge our community to do their part to keep our schools free of COVID-19."
