PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. -- Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Michael Grego proposed to push back the start of the school year to August 24. Dr. Michael Grego said he made the recommendation in an abundance of caution for the safety and health of students and staff.
On Wednesday night, Pinellas School leaders held a virtual town hall to address parents concerns. They said they’ll be doing things like removing most furniture from classrooms to distance students and cleaning regularly.
Dr. Grego said health officials warned about a spike in COVID-19 cases in July, but he didn’t want to make a decision too far out, but now he feels it’s the right time to make the call to push back the start date.
“The community wants, and healthcare professionals would like to see, a decrease back to kind of where we were in June, so that delay of opening up schools, as you mentioned, is a fluid thing. One month, one way or the other, it could be a totally different picture,” said Dr. Grego.
The school board will review and vote on the proposed start date at their meeting on July 28.
The Hillsborough School Board will voted today on delaying the school start date by two weeks to August 24.