Mississippi schools will remain closed for rest of semester due to COVID-19, Reeves says
Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday that Mississippi classrooms will remain closed through the rest of the school year as the state continues to grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“School buildings will remain closed for remainder of semester,” Reeves said Tuesday during a press conference.
Reeves added, “This does not meaning school is canceled.”
Reeves said he was encouraged by distance learning efforts by many school districts, but he acknowledged that not all households were equipped to handle in-home learning.
“This hasn’t hit all students equally,” he said. “Many are surging ahead and getting hours of instruction every day.
“There are others in circumstances that make that much harder. Not everyone has fancy web cams and fast internet. Not everyone has parents who can also become full-time teachers. Those are blessings, but we cannot expect every household to handle this the same. We are trying to reach everybody, but we have work to do.
As for seniors who are scheduled to finish at the end of the semester, Reeves expects they will be allowed to graduate.
“I anticipate that if you’re a senior and you are doing what your teachers are asking to do and doing what your superintendent and school boards are requiring you to do, you’ll be able to graduate,” Reeves said. “We’re not going to have end-of-the-year tests. That’s already been waived by state department and approved by the federal government.”
Reeves said on March 19 that all schools should be closed through April 17, meaning classes could have resumed on Monday without the governor’s ruling.
The state will now start the process of determining how each school is doing with its distance learning programs.
“Distance learning will continue and I will be asking every school to submit plans that show they are doing just that, and to step up and share the best practices we have learned over the last several weeks,” Reeve said.
For those schools who haven’t set up sufficient distance learning, Reeves hopes that in-person instruction in the summer and courses early in the fall can make up for lost time.
The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 145 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 more deaths on Tuesday. Overall, the state has reported 3,087 cases and 111 deaths.
The state was placed under a shelter-in-place order on April 3, but that is scheduled to expire at 8 a.m. April 20.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 2:46 PM.
