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The Troup County School System announced Tuesday it will extend the cancelation of school until April 3, in compliance with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s directive.

Gov. Kemp issued an executive order Monday stating any gatherings over 10 people are prohibited until April 6. TCSS Superintendent Brian Shumate said Kemp’s order was the deciding factor in the decision. He expects other school systems to follow suit.

“We want families to continue exercising social distancing as most as possible, washing hands, keeping away from large crowds,” Shumate said. “We hope we can start to come back to a normal state of affairs on April 13. We will continue to wait on further direction from the health department and the governor. I do appreciate the efforts of all of our staff during his time as well as families helping kids stay active and healthy.”

According to a news release from TCSS, spring break will occur as scheduled, April 6 to April 10. School is scheduled to resume Monday, April 13. 

TCSS will continue providing meal distribution services at nine school locations from 11 a.m. to noon, and various bus stops throughout the county. Meal distribution services will occur as scheduled until April 3. The sites and locations can be found on troup.org.

Shumate said the school system doesn’t normally feed students during Spring Break, but TCSS is looking at options to see if that’s possible this year.

During the first week of the closure, the school system served 8,404 lunches and 8,359 breakfasts to students.

On the education side, Shumate said school staff is putting together more content electronically and paper packets for students. Those packets are being delivered on school buses for those without internet access.

For parents wanting to help with their child’s home education, Shumate touted online materials like Khan Academy, which offers practice exercises, instructional videos and a personalized learning dashboard for students. Shumate also suggested problem-solving and board games that are strategic in nature.

“Anything to activate their minds is a good thing,” Shumate said.

For parents who want to reach out to their student’s teachers for advice about how to help teach at home, Shumate said to email the teachers based on their district emails. If a parent can’t find it, Shumate said to call or email the school, and they will get them in touch with a teacher.

“We fully expect our school staff to be on duty during the school day, Monday through Friday right now,” Shumate said. “Meaning that they should be available for questions and email with parents.”

According to TCSS, multiple teachers have also placed learning resources in their Google Classrooms.