Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, major changes have occurred in Seminole County Public Schools. According to principal Robert Frasca, he and other principals have been working with superintendent Walt Griffin to find solutions for the county to continue school.

First, students will tentatively return to campus on April 15, but to avoid lost time, the county has put a distance learning platform in place for teachers to teach students material as if they were on campus. This will start March 30 and continue until students return to campus.

During the distance learning, students will be expected to complete two to three hours of work each week weekly assignments that will be graded. Teachers will also be available for four hours a day to answer students’ questions. Teachers will inform students when their four hour window will be.

“Teachers are very eager to start figuring out what the platform looks like. They miss their students and want to help in whatever way they can,” Frasca said.

Hagerty will also be checking out laptops to students who have free or reduced lunch to help students get ready for this distance learning.

As of March 24, the county had distributed 4,142 meals to over 2,000 students along with 1,400 laptops checked out to high school students.

In terms of relief, on Monday, March 23 the county began to accept food donations from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. to help families in need.

Outside of school, Gov. Ron Desantis has limited gatherings to no more than 10 people and is reminding people to practice social distancing and good hygiene, staying six feet away from people, and washing hands thoroughly. Further precautions are expected later this week.