Jefferson Parish pushes back first day of school

Jefferson Parish Schools Superintendent James Gray announced Monday that the first day of school for the system has been pushed back to school to August 26.  Schools had been scheduled to open Wednesday, Aug. 12, and Gray said the system is delayed by two weeks to coincide with the availability of rapid COVID-19 testing.

“Jefferson Parish Schools is dedicated to providing the education our students deserve to succeed in life and make our world a better place,” Gray said in a press release. “While student learning is our top priority, our top responsibility is making school a safe environment for our students and employees.”

Gray said Ochsner Hospital for Children will be able to conduct COVID-19 testing for symptomatic teachers and employees that will produce positive or negative results in 15 minutes.  But not until Aug. 26.

“We remain diligent in our efforts to provide a safe environment, and this will allow us to add another layer of safety for our employees and students to ensure that we mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Gray said in the press release. “In the coming days, we will work through the details of this process.”

“We will use these two weeks to continue to strengthen our plans and offer additional professional development for our teachers, particularly around teaching virtually,” he added. “The better we can support our teachers, the better off our students will be.”