Babylon School District To Close For 4 Days; No Coronavirus Cases

BABYLON, NY — While there are no cases of the coronavirus in Babylon, the local school district announced it will be shutting down the schools for four days next week. Superintendent Linda J. Rozzi sent a letter to the community informing that out of an abundance of caution, officials decided to close schools effective Monday, March 16 through Thursday, March 19.

The district will use the four unused snow days without affecting any upcoming vacation periods. The schools will re-open on Friday, March 20 for all students and staff. During this time, the district will be sanitizing the buildings.

"Additionally, school districts in Suffolk County have been receiving excellent, detailed and extremely transparent guidance from Suffolk County leaders as well as the Suffolk County Department of Health resulting from the current situation relating to COVID-19," Rozzi announced.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped to 28 in Suffolk on Friday and 50 in Nassau.

The district will also temporarily pause all field trips, before and after school clubs, evening events as well as community use of our indoor facilities. This will be until further notice, effective upon the students’ return next Friday, March 20.

These include, more specifically, the following activities:
• Field trips
• Before school clubs
• After school clubs
• School intramurals
• After school sports practices: JH, JV and Varsity (Section XI has suspended all contests)
• All evening events that bring large numbers of community members into the schools,
including but not limited to the following: musicals, concerts, community assemblies,
workshops, etc.
• Building use of our indoor facilities approved for outside organizations, including but not
limited to the following: PTA/SEPTA meetings, scouting clubs, civics organizations, etc.

However, the preschool program as well as the before and after school SCOPE programs will remain open.