ILLINOIS (WAND) - Gov. JB Pritzker has announced schools will close for several weeks in response to virus concerns.
Schools will be out of session from March 17 - the day of the primary election in Illinois - to March 30. Day care centers are remaining open as of Friday and will follow strict health and safety guidelines.
Decatur Public Schools, Springfield District 186, Champaign Unit 4 and Mattoon Community School District #2 will not have students attend class on Monday, March 16. For Unit 4, officials said the closure includes all District events, practices and the Kids Plus Program. The Pana school district announced it will have a 3-hour early dismissal on March 16.
The Board of Education for District 186 said it will have an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday to discuss closure of schools.
“We have seen evidence from influenza outbreaks that community mitigation strategies, such a school closures, have an effect on decreasing the severity of the outbreak,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “By taking these actions now, we hope to slow and limit widespread transmission of this virus, which is essential to ensuring our health care system is not overwhelmed as the disease progresses through our state. School closures will help slow the progression of the virus and we are asking for everyone’s help in reducing the spread.”
The closures affect all K-12 schools in Illinois. Any district with a spring break outside of this window is asked to place it in the March 17-30 period.
Pritzker's administration said it is working to ensure students still have access to critical support functions, including food, child care and safe environments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday gave a waiver to the Illinois State Board of Education for serving meals to students in non-group settings, meaning students on free and reduced price breakfast and lunch will still have access to grab-and-go meals every day.
Some districts will offer options such as delivery and parent pick-up, per state leaders.
The governor told school administrators the state will not hand out any penalties because of this closure. The Illinois State Board of Education plans to be fully staffed over the weekend of March 14-15 and during the closure period to "work through individualized issues and challenges in each district", leaders added in a press release.
There are now 46 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Illinois. None of them are in central Illinois.
More to come.
