Broward County Public Schools makes changes after Hurricane Irma

BY NOAH CASTAGNA

In light of Hurricane Irma and its accompanying damage, outages and extended period of time off school, many important school and district schedule changes have been put in place.  

Open House has been moved to Tuesday, September 26 at 6:45 p.m. Parents are encouraged to attend and get to know their students’ teachers and administrators as well as get the opportunity to scope out various student life opportunities such as school programs and yearbook purchases.

Starting Monday, September 18 and continuing through October 20, Broward County schools are offering free breakfast and lunch to all students as the state recovers from the effects of Hurricane Irma.

The two initial missed days of school in preparation for Irma (September 7 and 8) have been waived by the state, meaning schools across Florida are not expected to make up these days and will not be penalized for not making them up. Whether or not counties that experienced seven missed days of school (being off the week of September 11 to September 15) will have to accommodate for these days is still up in the air.

By law, Florida schools must have remained open for 180 school days in order to continue to receive state funding. Counties can apply to be waived off this requirement, and the deadline for application is October 16. There has not been any official comment on whether Broward County would be applying for such a waiver, but an announcement is expected soon.

Should Broward County Public Schools not waive out of the requirement and no separate plan of action is taken, the following early release days will become full, regular school days per district hurricane make-up days: October 19, December 22, February 22, March 22 and June 6.

For more district news regarding school year changes, visit http://www.browardschools.com/.

Photo courtesy of Fort Lauderdale Daily