The Harrisburg school district’s Lincoln School
Pennsylvania schools will close for 10 business days in response to the coronavirus threat.
Gov. Tom Wolf made the announcement on Friday afternoon that he was ordering all K-12 schools to close for two weeks beginning on Monday.
“We understand that these are trying times and recognize the impact of the coronavirus on our students and communities,” he said, in a statement. “First and foremost, my top priority as governor—and that of our education leaders—must be to ensure the health and safety of our students and school communities. As such, I am ordering that all schools in the commonwealth close for the next two weeks.”
As a result, schools will not be penalized this year if they fail to meet the 180-day threshold, Wolf said.
Wolf added that the state received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow eligible schools to serve meals to low-income students in a “non-congregate setting,” such as a drive-through or grab-and-go, during this closure.
Later in the afternoon, the Harrisburg school district affirmed that it would be shut for two weeks, planning now to reopen on March 30.
“Working in collaboration with the governor’s office, we will do our part to ensure the health, well-being, and safety of our students and staff, and to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Harrisburg School District and community,” said Acting Superintendent Chris Celmer, in a statement.
The district said that it was committed to continuing free meals for qualified students, but didn’t specify how that service would continue.
“In a district such as ours, we know that closing schools will impact families who depend on the free meals that we provide to students five days a week,” Celmer stated. “To help mitigate the impact on families, the administration will continue internal and external meetings and conversations with our food service department, vendors, and community partners to address this concern.”
In its daily update, the state Department of Health today said that four more residents from Montgomery County and two from Delaware County are presumed to have the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 28 cases. All are in the hospital or isolated at home, according to the department.
So far, all presumptive cases have been in eastern Pennsylvania. There have been no cases reported in the immediate Harrisburg area.
This story has been updated with information regarding and comments from the Harrisburg school district.
