Rural school districts extend holiday weekend closure, due to COVID-19 surge

Brianna Maestas, Amarillo Globe-News
·1 min read

School districts throughout the Texas Panhandle have closed early this week and will not reopen until after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, due to a rise in COVID-19 cases occurring across the area.

As of Thursday, districts including Plemons-Stinnett-Phillips CISD, Quanah ISD, San Jacinto Christian Academy and River Road ISD announced that all schools within their districts would be closing their doors from Friday until Monday, with school resuming Tuesday.

The River Road Independent School District has closed its schools until Tuesday, due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The River Road Independent School District has closed its schools until Tuesday, due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.

“During this time, deep cleaning will be done on all campuses and all campus vehicles for the safety of staff and our students. Due to experiencing high rates of COVID-19 among staff and students, we felt the decision to close, as many other school districts have temporarily, to be the right safety measure to take,” said King Hill, RRISD public information officer.

“Monday we were going to be closed anyway because of Martin Luthur King Jr. Day, and we felt that was the most prudent thing to do to ensure our students' and staff's safety,” Hill said.

Other school districts within the area such as Bushland ISD, and Plainview ISD announced that they would be closing their doors from Friday to Tuesday, with doors opening back up to students and staff on Wednesday.

McLean ISD closed all of their schools from Thursday, with classes resuming on Monday.

There have been no reported changes to Amarillo ISD or Canyon ISD's school schedule due to the COVID-19 surge as of press time.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Schools close in Texas Panhandle COVID-19 surge MLK holiday weekend