Coronavirus: All GA K-12 Schools Shut, Colleges Move Online

GEORGIA — After many metro Atlanta school districts closed their doors last week, Gov. Brian Kemp has ordered any remaining public schools districts that were still open to close through the end of the month. Colleges followed suit, and will finish the semester online, the University System of Georgia said Monday.

In accordance with newly issued federal guidance, Kemp signed an executive order Monday night closing all public elementary, secondary, and post-secondary public schools in Georgia from March 18 to March 31.

"To keep our students, teachers, and administrators safe and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I am ordering the closure of all public elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in Georgia from March 18, 2020 to March 31, 2020," Kemp said. "This measure is critical to reducing local transmission in communities across our state, and I ask Georgians to continue to follow best practices — washing their hands regularly, isolating the elderly and chronically ill, and avoiding large events if possible — in the days and weeks ahead."

While Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has prohibited crowds of more than 50 through the end of the month in the city as part of a state of emergency, Kemp has not signed a similar order for the state.

Related: GA Schools Offering Meals To Students During Coronavirus Closures

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Georgia's older students will also not return to the classroom after the University System of Georgia announced Monday night that all 26 institutions will move to online instruction for all courses for the remainder of the semester, with extremely limited exceptions.

This action comes following last week’s decision to suspend instruction for two weeks to ensure business and instructional continuity, and to allow further state assessment of COVID-19.

Students are not allowed to return to campus until they receive permission from their institution, which will be forthcoming soon.

Additionally, residence halls will be closed, with minimal exceptions for students unable to return home, or who cannot find housing elsewhere. Students will receive specific instructions from campus leaders regarding when they will be allowed to return to campus to retrieve their belongings from residence halls. Students must follow those instructions. For those students who are unable to depart campus, we will make every effort to accommodate these students.

University System of Georgia will be providing guidance to campuses on refunds for housing, dining, and other services. Students should wait for their campus to contact them.

Institutions will remain open, with minimal staff physically on-site, to ensure continuity of certain services.

In the end, we want to ensure that our faculty, staff and students are safe; that we do our part to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in Georgia; and that we fulfill our mission to graduate our students even in the face of these challenging times.

GA Superintendent Suspends State Testing Amid Coronavirus

As the coronavirus outbreak continues and many public schools are closed to ensure the safety of students and staff, State School Superintendent Richard Woods is suspending the following until further notice:

• State assessment window/administration (including Georgia Milestones EOGs and EOCs, the Georgia Alternate Assessment/GAA 2.0, and all other required testing)
• Teacher and leader evaluation (TKES/LKES) requirements and reporting
• State-level attendance-related consequences (including CCRPI, TKES/LKES, School Climate Star Rating, and make-up day requirements)

"Right now, schools' focus needs to be on the safety of their students and staff," Woods said. "The focus should be first and foremost on health and safety, then on flexible and creative ways to keep learning and growing. It's common sense: testing and accountability requirements should not place an additional burden on students, parents, and educators during this time, and they will not in Georgia."

The Georgia Department of Education will seek the maximum authority and waivers afforded by the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies to accommodate this ever-evolving situation. Find the most recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education regarding assessment and accountability during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Updated information, including student learning resources and a tracking tool for school closures, can be found online at gadoe.org/coronavirus.

As of Monday, one person in Cobb County has died from the respiratory virus, and the number of confirmed and presumed positive cases of COVID-19 rose from 99 on Sunday to 121 cases in 19 counties by Monday.

The state's lone fatality is a 67-year-old man who was hospitalized at WellStar Kennestone after testing positive for COVID-19 on March 7, authorities said. In addition to being infected with coronavirus disease, the victim also had underlying medical conditions, a news release said.

Globally, more than 185,000 people have been infected and more than 7,300 people have died from the new coronavirus, Johns Hopkins reported Tuesday morning. Of that total, more than 4,600 confirmed cases are in the United States. There have been 85 deaths in the U.S. have been tied to the virus outbreak.