Schools in the Tampa Bay area plan to make up time lost due to hurricanes

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the Tampa Bay area and forced school closures, local districts are now developing plans to make up for lost classroom time.

Students from kindergarten to third grade are obliged under Art Florida Department of Education to spend 720 hours a year at school, and high school students need 900 hours of classes a year.

Due to varying numbers of lost days across Florida’s west coast, each district will need to make adjustments to their calendars to ensure students are in class for the required amount of time.

These adjustments will allow most districts to maintain their originally scheduled seasonal breaks.

Pinellas County

Pinellas students missed nearly 50 hours of school due to the storms.

Superintendent Kevin Hendrick announced This week’s preliminary plan, which will be voted on on October 29, calls for waiving first-semester final exams and requiring students to attend classes on January 6, 2025 and February 17, 2025, which were originally student-free days.

The last day of school, May 29, 2025, will also be a full day rather than a half-day.

High school graduations will now take place at the end of May, rather than mid-month.

Hillsborough County

The school district already canceled early dismissal days in the first semester after Hurricane Helene, but early dismissal days were also canceled in the second semester after Hurricane Milton.

Hillsborough County Public Schoolsthe first semester will now end on January 6, 2025, and middle and high school students will be exempt from all exams in the first semester.

Students in the eastern part of the county will be required to go to school on February 14, 2025, which is the day off from student activities during the Florida State Fair in Tampa. Schools in the western part of the country will still have holidays.

However, West Side schools will have classes on March 3, 2025, originally a day off for students due to the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, and East Side school students will have the day off.

Two minutes will also be added to each second-semester lesson for middle and high school students, delaying the start or end time of the school day. A new start or end time will be announced in December.

Sarasota County

Sarasota County Schoolsthe first semester will end on January 16, 2025, almost a full month later than originally planned.

All training days will now be full, including exam weeks.

Instead of having a day off on January 6, 2025 for staff scheduling purposes, students will now have classes on that day and will be off on January 17, 2025. Students will also be required to attend school on March 14, 2025 and May 29, 2025 , days that were originally off.

Citrus County

Citrus County students will now be required to attend school on October 21, November 11 and December 20. Although students will no longer have Veterans Day off, county officials said they greatly value their veterans.

“We plan to honor them in a meaningful way in our schools,” they say he said in a statement.

Hernando County

Hernando County Schools will make up for time lost due to the hurricanes on December 18 and 19 by having full school days rather than early dismissal days.

Manatee County

Manatee County Schools he lost about eight training days due to the storms, and the calendar originally did not designate days for a break from work before the hurricane. The final decision on when the classes will be scheduled has not been made yet.

Pasco County

Pasco County Schools has not announced a plan to make up teaching time lost as a result of hurricanes Helene and Milton.