Yesterday, August 4, the Alachua County School Board had a county meeting where they discussed the possibility of pushing back the reopening of schools to August 31.

In the meeting, concerned callers expressed why they thought children and staff should not return to schools on August, 24, the current start date for the 2020/21 school year. 

Karen Clarke, the Superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools, mentioned the possibility of pushing the fall start date back to August 31 or turning to online schooling only for the fall semester.

Earlier in the summer, the Florida governor and Department of Education announced that all Florida schools needed to open brick and mortar schooling options in August for the start of school. If schools do not reopen and choose to operate online only, they risk losing millions of dollars in funding.

Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell mentioned the idea of using some of the funding from the Alachua County CARES Act to support schools if the Florida government pulls funding.

There are plans to have another Alachua County School Board meeting next week on Wednesday to discuss these matters in further detail. Follow the Alachua County Schools Facebook page for more updates!

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