NEW ORLEANS — While New Orleans area schools are making contingency plans in case of closures due to the corona virus, one high school on Esplanade Avenue pulled the plug in the middle of the school day Thursday.
New Harmony High School, a two-year-old BESE school specializing in Coastal Restoration, sent students and teachers home at about 11 a.m. when a family member of a student reported possible exposure to the virus.
“For the safety of our students, families and staff, we'll be closed today and Friday,” principal Sunny Summers said.
Summers said the move was made out of an abundance of caution.
“We received notice that a family member of an unconfirmed but possible community exposure to the corona virus not due to international travel,” she said.
Other schools are looking into plans for distance learning through the Internet in case of widespread or long-term closures.
NOLA Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Tiffany Delcour said individual schools are making plans for the possible switch, including a mixture of online schoolwork and old-fashioned paper-and-pencil instruction.
“Our focus is on distance learning,” Delcour said. “How would we provide curriculum and instruction to students in a paper-based way, an analog way, and a digital way and potentially a hybrid between the two.”
Distance learning requires access to electricity and the Internet, so the City Council Thursday formally urged all utilities to suspend cut-offs during the crisis.
The request went out to the Sewerage and Water Board, Entergy, and all telecommunications providers, said Councilman Jason Williams.
“We have to make sure that these kids are connected to the Internet, which means they need power and they need Internet connectivity,” Williams said.
The S&WB responded within hours, agreeing to suspend all water shut-offs immediately. The utility also announced it will start restoring water to customers who were previously shut off.
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