COVID-19 outbreak closes Ed White High, third Duval school to shift to virtual classes

Florida Times-Union - 9/1/2021

Ed White High School on Jacksonville's Westside will temporarily close and transition to virtual learning Thursday because of a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.

The school is the third in Duval County to be forced to shut down because of excessive coronavirus cases since the 2021-22 school year began Aug. 10.

As of Tuesday night, Ed White reported 43 cases of the virus, including 41 students, according to the school district's COVID-19 online dashboard, which records cases at each campus.

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For a school to close, at least 20 percent of the student and staff population has to be impacted.

Students should log on to their fifth-period class T— "B-Day" through Microsoft Teams on Thursday, according to a Duval County Public Schools news release. All extracurricular activities, including athletics and arts events, are suspended during the closure but will resume when students return to campus.

The school is scheduled to reopen Sept. 9.

Students who do not have their school laptops with them should call the school Thursday and make arrangements to connect to online instruction, according to the release.

"The leadership, teachers and staff at Ed White ... will continue to work to make the online experience the best it can be and look forward to regathering as a school community on Sept. 9," according to the release.

Countywide, Duval schools reported a total of 1,620 cases of COVID-19 — 1,431 students and 189 staff — since the term began Aug. 10, according to the dashboard.

That's 124 more cases than the 1,496 cases reported Monday night, which included 1,319 students and 177 staff. Last week, the district topped 1,000 cases, a milestone that took months to occur in the 2020-21 school year.

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Baldwin Middle-High School and Duncan U. Fletcher Middle School temporarily closed last week because of COVID-19 outbreaks on campus. Baldwin reopened on Wednesday, and Fletcher is set to follow suit on Thursday.

Duval County schools have a mask mandate, with the only opt-out requiring a doctor's note, that is to take effect Tuesday. But state Education Commissioner Ed Corcoran has challenged its legality.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109