Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered the closing of every school in the state until March 30 starting Tuesday amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus.
Other states and large cities shut down schools this week over COVID-19 concerns, but officials in Illinois and Chicago resisted until Friday. Pritzker announced his decision in Chicago where more than 355,000 public school students will be affected. Statewide, nearly 2 million students will not be returning to the classroom.
Locally, Superintendent Jeff Whitsitt explains how United will handle the closure:
“Our stance at United right now is going to be this: we haven’t used any snow days this year, which by March 13 is a little rare. So, whatever closure we look at, our first five days, we’re making up no matter what. We’ve got them built into our calendar at the end of May. With the ten-day closure, we’ll make up those first five days and we will probably apply to the state for Act of God days for those next five and write them off of our calendar and take that hit as five days that we didn’t get a chance to do something with our kids.
If we get to day 11 and beyond, that when we’re going to kick in gear and start thinking about alternative lessoning and things like that. There’s so much that goes into that, though.”
