Spring break has been extended by an extra week for all Florida students, including in Osceola County, due to concerns about the coronavirus. Public schools will now be closed until March 30 at the earliest.
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that Friday, according to a news release.
All extracurricular events and activities, including athletic competitions, scheduled through March 31 will be canceled and will resume until advised otherwise by state leaders and state and local health officials. End-of-year events (proms, Grad Night, graduation, etc.) happening after March will be evaluated later as conditions warrant and change. State testing, slated to begin on April 1, will be delayed by two weeks.
Many school districts had already taken steps to cancel all extracurricular activities but until now, the Osceola County district had planned to resume operations as usual after the spring break, during which time staff would work to sanitize surfaces.
DISTRICT EMPLOYEES: All 12 month employees are expected to return to work on Wednesday if not taking vacation or personal time during the original week of spring break. Decisions about return to work status for teachers and other 10 and 11-month support staff will be made next week, as additional information and guidance becomes available about the need to implement an instructional continuity plan. Please monitor district communication carefully. School and district offices will reopen on March 23 as originally planned, and administrators and other 12-month employees should plan to report to work until further notice.
The School District re-iterates that many questions: Will make-up days be required? Will we be required to cancel important end-of-year celebrations? When will life return to normal? cannot be answered at this time as information is changing almost daily.
