Franklin County Schools Will Remain Closed for Two Weeks

As news of the Coronavirus in Georgia has changed over the past 48 hours, Franklin County School Superintendent Chris Forrer has announced a change and Franklin County Schools will be closed for the next two weeks.

In a statement issued Sunday, Forrer said:

“Franklin County Family,

“There are still a lot of details and logistics to work out, but I wanted to give everyone as much time as possible to prepare for the forthcoming week,” he said. “Franklin County Schools will be closed to students until at least March 30th. Employees will not have to report until at least March 23rd. What distance learning, nutritional services, kindergarten registration, spring break, and many other items will look like in the coming weeks are still being discussed. All of our students went home with work for one week on Friday. They should complete that work over the course of this week. Any student who did not receive a work packet will be able to get one on Monday with details of that distribution to follow. I will send out a plan with far more details this evening, but I wanted you to have this information as soon as possible. Please continue to pray for the health of our students and continued blessings for our community,” he concluded.

On Friday, in a called emergency meeting Forrer noted there have been no confirmed cases of the coronavirus within a 50-mile radius of Franklin County and decided to keep schools open for the three-class days this week in order to give parents a chance to plan for child care should the schools close.

But on Sunday, Forrer told WLHR News the Governor’s announcement changed everything and schools in Franklin County will remain closed for the next two weeks.

Forrer said, however, students who are on the meal plan will still be able to get meals from the school.

“We’re not going to discontinue meal service. We’ll have two options. Each school will continue to put out meals and we’ll have a drive-through line where parents can drive up and say, ‘I have four kids in the car,’ and we’ll give them four meals. And we’re going to distribute meals to high-density areas, to housing complexes and things like that. Our goal is to make sure nutritionally we do everything we can for our students,” Chris stated.

Additionally, Forrer said all planned field trips are canceled, as well as all sports activities and all after school activities.

Stephens CountySchool Superintendent Bryan Dorsey also made the decision over the weekend to close school for two weeks after the Governor’s announcement.

However, as of Sunday, Hart County Charter System will still remain open. https://www.hart.k12.ga.us/

Last Thursday, Governor Brian Kemp issued a recommendation for schools to close for two weeks due to the rapid rise of the coronavirus in Georgia.

However, he qualified that by noting it would be up to each individual school system to decide.