Hurley school closes through April 13

By LARRY HOLCOMBE

[email protected]

Hurley - The Hurley School District officials announced Friday morning they're suspending classes beginning Monday through April 13 due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

"All activities, besides the school board meetings at this point, will be canceled," Superintendent Kevin Genisot said in a press release. "There will be no practices or general school use of the facility in any capacity."

This amounts to three unscheduled weeks off of school before the district's already planned spring break, April 6-13.

Later in the day Friday gov. Tony Evers ordered schools around the state to close starting Wednesday.

Genisot told the Daily Globe this is not just about keeping the students and staff safe, but the entire community, adding he's recently been in hourly contact with the local health department.

"This is a community issue and will take a community approach to managing it," he said in the release.

"There is no easy answer or sure-fire way to manage this epidemic," the release said. "I believe everyone realizes that the COVID-19 is impossible to stop, but we can work collaboratively to help slow the progression and by doing this we can help our health providers as they will be stretched beyond their limits in the upcoming weeks and months."

"We fully realize that this isn't typically a crisis for healthy students and adults, but because students testing positive don't always present with symptoms, they can often transmit viruses very easily without even knowing it," Genisot said. "It's imperative we are in front of this the best we can and are not making decisions too late."

He said there are more decisions ahead, but they wanted to get out in front of the issue. He said they're still going to hold the school board meeting on Monday, but the board may decide to move other meetings either the date or place of the meeting if need be. He said they'll start counting the days off as snow days, but it's unknown how the days beyond that will be dealt with.

He said they will be looking at providing an educational platform to educate all students during the closure.

"There will be a lot of decisions that will need to be made," he said. "We are committed to doing what's in the best interest of our students and community and want everyone to be assured we are working diligently to meet the rapidly changing demands that are placed on us."

He said the students, parents, staff and community can expect more updates as they know more and finalize additional plans.

"Together, we will work collaboratively to do the best we can in these uncharted times," he said in the release.

"We strongly encourage all families to frequently wash their hands, avoid all non-essential travel and avoid all group gatherings."