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Fulton Public Schools, New Bloomfield R-3 and South Callaway R-2 are suspending classes beginning Wednesday through April 3.
St. Peter Catholic School announced a decision to close Wednesday with plans to resume classes April 6.
Fulton
After Fulton Public Schools administration decided to temporarily cancel school, the Board of Education voted unanimously at an emergency special meeting Monday evening to approve plans for paying staff during the closure.
Faculty will work Wednesday and may be on call after the district's spring break (March 23-17).
District facilities will also be closed to all outside groups, including the pole barn, a space often used by the community for events.
Students will be sent home with material focused on review - they will not be expected to learn any new material on their own, though the situation may change if the district decides to extend the shutdown.
Assistant Superintendent Ty Crain told the board the goal was to make sure students don't fall behind or lose any learning.
New Bloomfield
New Bloomfield Superintendent Sarah Wisdom announced the decision via email Monday. She noted the period of closure includes what would've been the district's spring break (March 23-27). The district is waiting on state guidance to decide how and if the missed days will be made up.
The district will decide whether to extend the break as April 3 nears.
Though no online instruction is currently planned, students will be sent home with ways to continue learning.
"We are providing online and hard copies of instructional materials to students as well as taking home laptops if they are needed," Wisdom said.
Hard-copies and online materials will cover the same activities and concepts, because not all students have access to the internet at home. Students will be encouraged, but not required to complete homework, she added.
The district's school buses will continue to run, but instead of delivering students to school, they'll be delivering meals to students.
"We will run sack breakfast and lunches to all free and reduced eligible students as well as anyone who would like to opt in to receiving meals for the rest of this week and March 30 through April 3 (not including spring break)," Wisdom said.
The meals are available for all students, not just those who would normally be eligible for free and reduced lunches. Interested parents and guardians should contact New Bloomfield's central office at 573-491-3700 (Ext. 1) or email Nancy Moore at [email protected] by 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Decisions about other details, including whether teachers and other staff will receive pay during the break, will be made during tonight's New Bloomfield Board of Education meeting. The meeting will convene at 6 p.m. and is open to the public.
South Callaway
South Callaway R-2 Superintendent Kevin Hillman announced the district's closure via a Facebook post Monday. The district's closure also overlaps with the planned spring break (March 23-27). He framed the closure as an attempt to "proactively mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community."
Today during class, students will receive web links, downloads and learning materials that will "allow them to continue learning during this time off," Hillman said. Teachers will be meeting Wednesday to finalize plans for remote learning.
Remote learning will begin March 30, Hillman added. More information will be released as plans progress and March 30 nears. Until then, students will be on an "extended spring break," he said.
"Our goal in enacting this closure is to assist our community with slowing any transmission of the virus by limiting contact among individuals," Hillman wrote. "We know that these uncertain times can create stress and anxiety for employees, parent/guardians and students. Updates from (the school) will be posted on our website and on Facebook as new information is released."
Closures and cancellations caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus are multiplying daily. On Sunday, Gov. Mike Parson released a statement "strongly urging" the cancellation or suspension of public gatherings of 50 individuals or more with the exception of educational institutions, daycare facilities and business operations.
"We ask that facilities that attract large concentrations of senior citizens to strongly consider restrictions and closures, in consultation with health authorities, to protect those most vulnerable to this virus," Parson added. "We encourage schools to follow (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and consult with local health care providers and public health authorities as decisions are made on whether to keep school in session."
Court cases
Also Monday, 13th Circuit Presiding Judge Kevin Crane signed an order delaying certain types of upcoming court cases for the next 30 days. Delayed cases will be assigned new court dates.
Exceptions include:
In-custody initial appearances, arraignments and bond hearings
Any other criminal cases that can be conducted by video
96-hour hearings
Ex-partes, temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions
Juvenile detention hearings and juvenile delinquency cases that can be conducted via video
Abuse/neglect protective custody hearings
Emergency guardianships
Writ of habeas corpus hearings.
The courthouses and its offices will remain open at this time, but the court will continue to monitor the situation in our communities.
Other closures
All Jefferson City diocese schools will be closed through at least April 3, according to St. Peter Catholic School principal Teri Arms. The school plans to reopen April 6, but will assess the situation as that date nears.
"We'll have packets for younger students, and remote learning opportunities for older students," she said Monday.
All Daniel Boone Regional Library locations, including Callaway County Public Library, will be closed indefinitely beginning today, according to a DBRL release.
The closure is "due to concerns for public and staff safety during the COVID-19 pandemic," the Monday release added. The libraries had already suspended classes.
Book drops will be locked during the closure, which means due dates are being extended and holds suspended for all physical materials. Digital checkouts and resources - including ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies and more - are available as usual at dbrl.org.
On Sunday, YMCA of Callaway County announced all group fitness classes would be canceled and programs such as the swim team, spring soccer and gymnastics are being postponed. The gym's childwatch program has been closed altogether, though the fitness center and track remained open Monday.
On Saturday, Walmart CEO Dacona Smith announced all U.S. Walmart stores would reduce hours beginning Sunday. Stores will be open 6 a.m.-11 p.m. until further notice. Stores currently operating under reduced hours will keep their current hours of operation.
"This will help ensure associates are able to stock the products our customers are looking for and to perform cleaning and sanitizing," Smith said.
Westminster College's Alumni Weekend, planned for April 17-19, has been pushed to October to coincide with Westminster Homecoming. America's National Churchill Museum, located on Westminster campus, has temporarily closed. All public programs and events scheduled during the closure will be canceled or postponed.
The Callaway Senior Center and Fulton Soup Kitchen are closed. The Fulton Medical Center is restricting all visitors until further notice (though the hospital continues to offer medical care).
In light of the rapidly evolving situation surrounding COVID-19, all Fulton Sun articles about the pandemic are free to read online for both subscribers and non-subscribers.
The third paragraph of this article was edited at 12:44 p.m. March 17, 2020, to correct the description of the decisions made by Fulton school officials.