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Schools In Florida Closed For Two Weeks Due To Coronavirus; Alabama Schools Closing Next Week
March 14, 2020
The Florida Department of Education has ordered schools in the state to close for two weeks, effectively extending spring break by one week for Escambia and Santa Rosa county schools.
Students in Escambia and Santa Rosa county are now set to return to class on March 30 at the earliest.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY DETAILS
All athletic and extracurricular activities are canceled beginning Sunday, March 15 through at least Saturday, March 29, Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas told NorthEscambia.com.
For the Escambia County School District, any employee that was already scheduled to work the week of March 16 should report to work.
“We will use those people to further sanitize our schools and buses,” Thomas said, “while some will be working our continuity plan and what happens if we cannot return to school – how do we maintain some semblance of education. We know it won’t be at the same level, but we would do the best we can.”
All schools are completely closed with no students or staff on campus the week of March 23. All district employees will receive their regular pay for the week.
An Escambia County School Board meeting planned for March 24 is still scheduled.
Byrneville Elementary School, a charter school in North Escambia , follows the Escambia County School District schedule.
Pensacola Christian Academy will also follow the recommendation of the FDOE and be closed March 16-27.
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee will be closed March 16-27. including athletic events and Catholic youth sports leagues.
For information on the University of West Florida, click here.
For information on Pensacola State College, click here.
For information Pensacola Christian College, click here.
ALABAMA
Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey has ordered all schools closed at the end of the day on Wednesday, March 18. Schools will be closed at least two and a half weeks until April 6. All athletic events are canceled during the time period.
Private school Escambia Academy has extended spring break until March 30. AISA activities and field trips are postponed until April 6.
Comments
11 Responses to “Schools In Florida Closed For Two Weeks Due To Coronavirus; Alabama Schools Closing Next Week”
There are no plans because the whole thing makes no sense. If something does not make sense it is not true! If 80 percent of the population experiences only slight inconveniences if contracting this virus (such as cough and a runny nose – ) why are we restricting everybody. concentrate on the vulnerable population as necessary You can mandate everyone over 65 to stay in isolation – put a bag of groceries before their front door, etc. and let the healthy or lightly infected 80 percent carry on with their normal lives!
From the ACS website:
Atmore Christian School will close after classes Wednesday, March 18. As of right now we have no plans to dismiss school after Spring Break. We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and make a more informed decision over Spring Break. When we make that decision we will communicate through email.
@James
I was thinking the same thing.
The virus will not survive on a hard surface for 14 days anyway while students are out, so essentially the school will rid itself of any contamination during the absence.
So while a “deep clean” of schools puts people at ease, it’s a pointless thing to do while students are out.
It’s much more important to disinfect all hard surfaces and doorknobs at schools at the end of each school day WHILE students and staff are there, which I have stated multiple times in previous posts.
Fairly certain COVID-19 has been shown to survive on plastic and stainless steel for up to 3 days and copper for up to 4 days. It’s assinine to put school personnel at risk disinfecting the schools and buses when the virus wouldn’t survive until the resumption of school anyways. This is a great example of people making uneducated assumptions and ignorant choices due to a lack of knowledge and proper research.
Well I’ve been saying that Malcolm should have gotten out in front of this and warned parents of what would most likely be happening…but he didn’t as usual.
Unless it magically goes away and there are no cases in Escambia County (which is not going to happen), then it’s very likely that Escambia public schools will go to online classes for the remainder of the school year, just as universities have done.
It will not be ideal for anyone obviously, but this is unprecedented and it is going to get much worse in the U.S. and Florida before it gets better.
Of course Malcolm Thomas should be preparing students and parents and teachers for that inevitability, but he’s reactive and not proactive.
So if you have kids in public schools, don’t be surprised when classes go online and don’t be surprised when you don’t hear it from the superintendent until the very last minute.
Florida Dept of Education made this extension to Spring Break.
Mr. Thomas is simply putting into place what he has been directed to do.
Same rules for ALL of the Public Schools in Florida.
Wondering how the State DOE will handle the Non-Instructional personnel?
(They are our maintenance, cafeteria, custodial, clerical, bus drivers, GREAT folks who work behind the scenes every day)
Will have to use their own leave time to cover this extra week?
Will they get paid for this time away from work?
Agree that the extra week out will help contain this virus yet wonder how deeply the State Dept of Ed considered the entire picture?
God Bless and y’all be cautious out there.
It may just be me and my suspicious nature, but I feel there is more to this than they are telling us..
Heather talked about two weeks and said “what are the plans?”
It literally talked about that the story in the quote from malcolm thomas
What about Private schools? They don’t go on spring break at the same time as public schools? I know we normally follow what Escambia does but nothing is mentioned about it?
They closed the schools now for 2 weeks. The number of infected will be a lot higher 2 weeks from now. When more test kits become available, the number of diagnosed will jump to tens of thousands if not hundreds. It is as simple as this. Now only those who are on the brink are getting tested, a lot more who are infected and have milder symptoms are not tested, good luck requesting a test.
So, 2 weeks from now the picture is going to be grimmer. I bet 1 against 10 000 this is going to happen. Now, what are the plans for March 30 when the true scale becomes more known? Surely, nobody expects the disease (overblown or not) to subside in 2 weeks.
What are the plans?
Are they going to add a week of school at the end of the year to make up for this extra week of spring break?