Keys students will get two-week spring break starting Monday to help stop coronavirus
Florida Keys public schools will close for two weeks starting Monday, March 16. Extracurricular activities — including sports — are also canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
No cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Monroe County as of Friday, however.
Monroe County schools were set to go on spring break Monday. The state Department of Education ordered the district to extend the break to two weeks, said Monroe Superintendent Mark Porter.
Classes are set to resume on March 30, and all staff is due at work on March 23, the district posted on its website.
All extracurricular activities beginning Saturday are also canceled through March 29. Spring testing for students will be delayed for two weeks.
“It feels a little extreme but we have to defer to others,” Porter said Friday afternoon. He said the state directive came during a 4 p.m. conference call that included Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida education commissioner.
Monroe’s closure was not Porter’s call.
“We’ve been required to extend spring break,” Porter said. “I think it’s a little bit of a one-size-fits-all solution but I’m no expert.”
Porter said the state was following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s basically a two-week break for students, Porter said. There are no immediate plans for online instruction.
But during the second week, staff will prepare for “continuity of instruction if we are required to remain closed longer,” Porter said.
During the closure, all schools will get a deep cleaning, the school district said.
Porter said the order was an about-face from the same people who were on a conference call 24 hours earlier.
“At that time, we were being encouraged not to close our schools,” Porter said. “It gives you a little feel for how dynamic this situation really is.”
The directive also came a day after Porter put out a lengthy statement saying the coronavirus so far isn’t the worst health crisis the country has seen in recent years.
“The current situation with regard to COVID-19 falls far short of the H1N1 [swine flu] pandemic of 2009 and while we must remain vigilant and personally responsible [for hygiene and prevention] we also must keep things in a proper perspective,” Porter wrote.
County and Key West officials Friday said they are prepared for the coronavirus.
“We are testing in Monroe County, and so far, the tests have come back negative,” County Administrator Roman Gastesi said in a statement Friday. “This is a really big deal and we are treating it that way.”
Gastesi said he’s never seen anything like this crisis.
”I have done five hurricanes, an oil spill, and several other public health emergencies in my 30 years of public service and this is by the far the most challenging because of its uncertainty,” Gastesi said.
Key West Mayor Teri Johnston set a special meeting on the crisis for March 18, at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 1300 White St.
“Everything is being done and it’s a fluid outbreak so what happens this hour may be different than what happens the next hour,” Johnston said.
The College of the Florida Keys, which has its main location on Stock Island and about 1,200 students total, will move classes online starting Monday. The college canceled all student activities and events through April 6.
The college announced the changes Thursday, the day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
Also Thursday, Saint Leo University — which has a center on the Naval Air Station Key West base on Boca Chica Key — followed suit.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the largest district in the state and the fourth largest in the nation, will shut down beginning Monday and switch to online instruction. The district’s weeklong spring break will take place as originally scheduled beginning March 23.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 7:02 PM.
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