After carefully weighing the latest information available about the Coronavirus (COVID-19), Darlington School administrators have decided to extend spring break for students to March 23 to allow appropriate time to plan for the remainder of the school year. All school activities, including athletics and other extracurricular events, will be suspended next week.
“While there are confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in Floyd County, we are not aware of any cases in our school community at this time,” said Head of School Brent Bell. “However, as a day and boarding school with students ranging in age from 4-18 on one campus, we are a unique community that must weigh many factors in our decision-making process. While we would certainly prefer to be in school and fully operational, we feel that this action is necessary to ensure the health and safety of our students. We need to be certain that our students will return to a setting optimal for learning.”
Faculty and staff will report back to work on Tuesday, March 17.
“Next week, our faculty and staff will be hard at work putting plans in place that will allow us to have the best possible program moving forward,” said Bell. “As this is a fluid situation, there are many unanswered questions. But rest assured that all decisions are being made with the health and wellness of our students as our top priority, while also ensuring we educate each student to the best of our ability.”
Below is information that may answer some immediate questions:
“During this challenging time, I remain grateful for everyone in the Darlington Community and for Darlington’s crisis response team, in particular,” said Bell. “This group has been actively engaged for weeks in planning for, and responding to, different scenarios. The rapid flow of change, information, and developments makes this difficult. We remain in consistent communication with our local health department and, of course, monitor CDC and WHO guidelines.”