COLLIER COUNTY — A new industry is popping up as parents get ready for the school year.
Study halls are giving parents a place to send their kids during the day, if they’re concerned about the spread of COVID-19 at school.
Golden Gate Traffic School has been in Collier County for more than 20 years, but it was just in the last month that owner Joe Rivera put up a sign for what he’s calling the "Collier Virtual Class Zone." He says, it’s a place parents can feel safe sending their kids if they don’t want to send them to school. Rivera says he got the idea when his daughter’s class went virtual back in March.
“It wasn’t until April where I checked her work where she really wasn’t doing much work. I noticed it, we fixed it, she got her grades up, but I wondered how many other parents might be in that situation," said Rivera.
Rivera realized, for virtual school to be effective, kids need supervision, and just like that, the idea for a new business was born.
“It’s $35 a day to have your kid monitored with a licensed Florida certified teacher," said Rivera.
Rivera wasn’t the only one to have this idea. At the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, they’re offering a study hall program for 125 dollars a week.
Rivera says, his program is safer than a school building, because he can control the number of kids he takes, so he can keep them spread out.
“The interaction between other kids is very limited, plus they are going to be required to wear a mask in here," said Rivera.
Rivera says he’s seen school openings backfire around the country, like a high school in Georgia where several students later tested positive.
Right now in Collier County, the positivity rate is over 16%, which the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics says is too high to reopen school.
Rivera says his business is an insurance plan.
“I hope nothing happens, but if parents, if something does happen, God forbid, they have a place to call," said Rivera.
Rivera says he can safely fit about 20 kids in his school spread out, but he says he has the ability to expand if the demand gets higher.
If interested you can learn more about the Collier Virtual Class Zone by calling the Golden Gate Traffic School at (239) 354-2133 or by clicking here.
