Editor’s Note: Since print publication, Lowndes County School District has announced classes are cancelled Monday and Tuesday. Later on Friday, both Columbus Municipal and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated school districts announced plans to close their schools for the week of March 16-20. The Dispatch will update if other school districts amend their schedules.
Schools and universities throughout the Golden Triangle are modifying class schedules and making other preparations for the outbreak of COVID-19 in Mississippi.
All public universities, including Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women, have extended spring through the week of March 16-22, with plans to resume classes online or via other alternative instructional methods on March 23, according to a press release from the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning.
The extra week should give professors and other faculty time to prepare for online classes, the press release says.
“The health and safety of our students, faculty and staff are paramount,” Commissioner of Higher Education Alfred Rankins Jr. said in prepared statement. “Our universities are modifying the schedules for the spring semester out of an abundance of caution.”
For MSU, that means canceling all events sponsored by the university or student organizations, according to an MSU press release issued Thursday. However, residence halls and dining facilities will remain open for students who remain on campus.
“Our primary responsibility is to safeguard our students, faculty, and staff during this health crisis,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum in the press release. “At this juncture, as COVID-19 is now a growing reality in Mississippi, this course of action is prudent and provides us the best opportunity to make the transitions necessary to most effectively meet our educational responsibilities as well.”
MUW has also moved classes online until further notice, according to a university press release issued late Thursday. Administrators have suspended all university-sponsored travel and are requiring students, staff and faculty returning from any place where they may have come into contact with the virus to call the university health center and self-quarantine for 14 days.
While MUW’s residence halls will remain open, the university is encouraging students to remain at their homes for the duration of the semester. The university’s homecoming, scheduled for March 26-29, has been canceled, as have all athletic games.
East Mississippi Community College has also extended its spring break until March 23, according to an emailed statement from college President Scott Alsobrooks. The college has canceled all campus-based activities and events for the near future, including Monday’s Career Expo and priority registration sessions at both the Mayhew and Scooba campuses.
Julia Morrison, EMCC’s director of marketing and recruiting, told The Dispatch that “all signs are pointing toward” classes going online when they resume March 23.
“We’re using this week to continue contingency planning,” she said. “… The plan is to move online, but a lot can change depending on what the spread of the virus looks like.”
She added college leadership members are meeting this morning to discuss the issue further, particularly for the Mayhew campus’ career tech classes, many of which require hands-on hours for students, thus would be more difficult to move online.
Alsobrooks has also asked residential students not to return to campus until further notice. Employees who can work remotely have been asked to do so.
“These decisions were not made lightly,” Alsobrooks said in the email. “Our actions are consistent with the recommendations of leading health officials on how to limit the spread of COVID-19 and are also consistent with similar decisions made by a number of our peer institutions.”
K-12 classes to resume on schedule
Lowndes County School District has canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday, extending spring break by two days, according to Superintendent Sam Allison.
Columbus Municipal and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated school districts both canceled school for the week of March 16-20.
All three districts are on spring break this week.
In a Thursday press conference, Mississippi Department of Health said it’s not necessary for schools to close, but it recommended canceling athletic events and other large gatherings.
CMSD Superintendent Cherie Labat said, district faculty and staff are taking precautionary measures and following guidelines from the Department of Health to minimize the virus’ spread.
LCSD has also canceled athletic events and some field trips later this month and early next month and Allison said staff are “loaded up” on cleaning supplies and disinfectant.
In an email, SOCSD Superintendent Eddie Peasant issued a list of precautionary measures for the district, including a requirement for students and staff who have traveled on a cruise ship or out of the country to notify their school and quarantine themselves for 14 days.
District officials are also canceling out-of-state travel and limiting visitors to the schools, field trips and assemblies and other large gatherings. Staff members have also added hand sanitizer in the school hallways and students will have more scheduled opportunities to wash their hands during the day. Starkville High School’s prom has been postponed.
Private schools are also making preparations.
Joni House, principal of Annunciation Catholic School in Columbus, said in an email to The Dispatch that she has been in contact with Diocese of Jackson Office of Education Superintendent Cathy Cooke and will have a plan in place by this afternoon. Heritage Academy Headmaster Greg Carlyle also emailed The Dispatch saying school administrators would release plans and a schedule some time today.
Starkville Academy plans to remain closed for spring break on Monday and Tuesday and resume class Wednesday. Starkville Christian School will re-open Monday.
Both schools’ heads told The Dispatch they are taking precautions. SA’s Head of School Jeremy Nicholas said administrators are requiring students and staff returning from any country listed by the Center for Disease Control as a Level 3 Travel Warning nation or who have been on international cruise to self-quarantine for 14 days “out of an abundance of caution.” SCS Principal Randy Witbeck emailed parents Thursday night issuing the same quarantine requirements and asking parents to send water bottles with their children to school next week, as the school is closing water fountains. He said he would send further information when it becomes available.
A representative from Columbus Christian Academy did not return an email from The Dispatch by press time.
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