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More Schools In Elkhart County Closing

Today Elkhart Community Schools, Concord Community Schools and Goshen Community Schools announced closures until mid April.

Here is a statement from the Concord website:

Effective Monday, March 16, all Concord Community Schools buildings will be closed to students until at least Monday, April 13, as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. All practices, extracurricular activities and school events are also canceled.

This decision was made by district leadership on Saturday afternoon out of an abundance of caution. At this time, Concord Community Schools does not have a confirmed case of COVID-19 in our schools.

Students will be permitted to enter the building on Tuesday to pick up Chromebooks, medications, and supplies or materials needed to complete assignments from home. eLearning Days will begin Wednesday, March 18. Assignments will be posted by 9 a.m.

Concord’s Food Services Department is working to establish a system to provide meals for those in need of food assistance. 

Here is the statement on the Goshen Community Schools website: 

After extensive conversations with experts in the medical field and due to our care and concern for the GCS community, we have made the difficult decision that GCS will be closing, beginning on Monday, March 16, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Monday and Tueday will be workdays for all staff and then e-learning will begin on Wednesday. Thereafter, E-learning will continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through March 30. At this time GCS is planning to re-open on Monday, April 13.  

Elkhart Community Schools will close as of Tuesday.

Here is the statement:

Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, the school corporations in Elkhart County have followed guidance from the state and local health departments as well as the Centers for Disease Control. We have heeded the advice of our professional education organizations. Over the past week, however, states bordering Indiana and neighboring communities have closed due to community spread. Additionally, national experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledge that testing is not at the pace it needs to be to detect the true spread of COVID-19. Advice regarding what to do has been mixed, so the leadership of Elkhart Schools is deciding to act out of caution. 

For the safety of our students and staff, Elkhart Community Schools will close all schools on Tuesday, March 17, through the period of spring break. Schools will resume tentatively on Monday, April 13. 

We understand for their own individual reasons that families may choose to not send their children to school on Monday, March 16. That is certainly a parent or guardian’s right. If a student does not attend Monday, we simply ask that parents make arrangements at the end of the day or over the next two days to pick up the student’s learning materials for eLearning starting on March 19.

For Elkhart Community Schools, this activates the following schedule:

  • Monday, March 16: a normal school day with normal early release for students; students will practice eLearning activities and leave school Monday afternoon with all the learning materials they need for sustained eLearning from home.
  • Tuesday, March 17: SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED FOR STUDENTS WITH NO ELEARNING; STAFF WILL REPORT. This will be a waived instructional day from the Indiana Department of Education used as an in-service day for teachers to prepare for eLearning.
  • Wednesday, March 18: SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED FOR STUDENTS WITH NO ELEARNING; STAFF WILL REPORT. This will be a second waived instructional day from the Indiana Department of Education used as an in-service day for teachers to prepare for eLearning.
  • Thursday, March 19 through Friday, April 3: ELearning for students
  • Monday, April 6 through Friday, April 10: Spring Break
  • Monday, April 13: tentative date to return to school

Baugo Community Schools posted the following letter to the schools Facebook page: