Washington's two largest school districts shut down to prevent COVID-19 spread
Seattle Public Schools and Lake Washington School District are closing all their schools beginning Thursday, affecting about 87,000 students in the region.
The closures will last at least two weeks. Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and Lake Washington School District are the state's first and second-largest districts, respectively. Lake Washington has just under 32,000 students, while Seattle Public Schools has more than 55,800, according to the state's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
The SPS Office of Public Affairs wrote in a letter to Seattle Public Schools families that the district decided to act swiftly in response to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's Wednesday proclamation banning gatherings of 250 or more people. In his statement on the proclamation, Inslee said he was not planning to call for widespread school closures but asked districts to make contingency plans in case that becomes the case.
Shorline Public Schools also closed Thursday and Bellevue School District said it will close starting Friday. Northshore School District last week announced it was moving classes online for up to two weeks. Closures announced so far have tentative end dates of March 27.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2020/03/11/seattle-public-schools-closes-for-2-weeks-confirms.html?ana=e_ae_set1&j=90499494&t=Afternoon&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTVdJNE5EVmxaRFl3WW1JMCIsInQiOiJhcUFhRFZJTzlNeWhRUTFCQjgyejlxKzNSb2FJVkN1bDJZbTB1dWQzM1VWSjhjZTk0S2tGK0s4WVJQNHFEUVJHeGo4TGZHZ0pYdlJOa3BmN01McXh0VFVwV1p3a0VQOU1KK2FQWlJoSFlwZFFKV3ViM1wvN0dIUkRzcUxTRDJ5aDAifQ%3D%3D