ATHENS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Athens City School District announced Tuesday that it is closing schools for two weeks due to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The schools will be closed starting Monday, March 16 and will reopen March 30.
“With our proximity to Ohio University and the many families connected to the University, it is very likely that many families traveled over the spring break and may have become exposed to COVID-19,” the school district announced in a statement.
The missed school days will be accounted for in the following manner:
- Use 3 remaining calamity days.
- Make up 2 days on April 10th and April 13th.
- Recommend to the Board of Education to change the student calendar to allow for the remaining 5 days to be for teacher work days and not counted as student attendance hours. This is possible because our students attend school for many hours beyond the state requirements.
The district said staff and administration should continue to report to work and offices during the two weeks.
Gov. Mike DeWine made a recommendation Tuesday that universities cancel in-person instruction and switch to online classes. He did not recommend K-12 schools do the same, but Athens said it is in a unique situation.
“While the Governor is not recommending that K-12 schools close, Athens is unique given the large proportion of our families associated with the (Ohio) University and the situation related to travel over the Spring Break period,” the statement read.