Biloxi High switches to distance learning after 15 students test positive for COVID-19
After 15 students tested positive for COVID-19 and 324 were sent home to quarantine, Biloxi High School is switching to full distance learning until Sept. 8, Principal Teresa Martin told parents in a letter on Monday.
“Out of an abundance caution and in an effort to stop this current spread, we have made the decision to switch all BHS students to full distance learning until Tuesday, September 8,” Martin wrote.
Other schools in the district will remain open as normal.
All extracurricular activities will be canceled during the two-week period, the letter said.
Biloxi High is the first school on the Coast to close temporarily in order to contain coronavirus transmission. Other school districts, including Gulfport and Harrison County, have sent home dozens of students after possible exposure to someone infected with the virus, but have not closed campuses.
Biloxi School District public relations specialist Jennifer Pyron told the Sun Herald that the decision to close the campus was based on guidance from the state health department.
Last week, Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux asked parents to help keep the school open by limiting students’ social gatherings.
He wrote that weekend social activities, like “parties, sleepovers, get togethers, and hanging out with groups of friends,” were driving coronavirus transmission among students at Biloxi High School.
“The efforts made during the school day to keep students socially distanced, masked up, and healthy are all negated with a few choices during the weekend,” he wrote.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
