St. Johns County pushes back start date of school, release new school year calendar

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — UPDATE 7/28/2020: St. Johns County releases the 2020-2021 school year calendar. Spring break will now only be 3 days long. Students will need to attend school March 15 and March 16.

The last day of school will be June 10, 2021.

Here is the calendar:

ORIGINAL STORY 7/26/2020:

The St. Johns County School Board unanimously voted to move the starting date of school from August 10 to August 31.

This pushes the school year three weeks back, meaning the last day of school will be on June 15 for students and June 16 for teachers.

Superintendent Tim Forson believes that the push back is beneficial because it would make sure school staff are prepared, COVID-19 rates will hopefully be down by then, and it will be after the Republican National Convention is over.

“If things are still worrisome in mid-August, we’re not going touch the calendar,” Forson said. “August 31 needs to be the start date, no matter what kind of start there is. Whether it’s a virtual start, a face-to-face start, or some combination thereof.”

Another issue was brought up regarding how many students were being registered away from the traditional schools. More then 33,000 students are enrolled to be inside the classroom when school starts. 11,000 have signed up to distance learning. 600 students have enrolled in St. Johns County Virtual School and there are 800 applicants that are still being considered.

The district receives funding based on the number of full-time students. Forson said every student who chooses St. Johns Virtual School is a loss of around $2,500 per student. This could lead to a possible four million dollar impact on the budget.

View the district’s revised reopening plan here: https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/reopening-plan/

Cox Media Group