NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — The first school in Duval County to close due to COVID-19 reopens for in-person classes Thursday.
Students and staff are back to class at Fletcher High School and they return to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Friday. Duval County Public Schools officials say the schools have been cleaned and disinfected.
Sonya Duke-Bolden with DCPS public relations told First Coast News neither principal was available for an interview. First Coast News asked what protocol changes will be different for sports teams like the swim and dive teams at Fletcher, which had team members test positive. The emailed answer from the district was "N/A."
The district is trying to spread the message that what families do outside of school matters. DCPS says Fletcher was shut down because of activities outside of school that infected people.
"The least everybody can do is wear a mask, wash your hands, social distance," said Gabby Valerio, a Douglas Anderson senior. "I mean it's no excuse. Whether you are in school or you are out of school you still have that responsibility."
Valerio wants everyone to follow safety protocols so she and her classmates can get back to senior year.
"I just feel like everybody needs to hear that because it's getting old," she said.
Some students may come back to school with doctor's notes. The school system put out a chart they made with the Florida health department that goes through each scenario for returning if students have or have not had symptoms.
The DCPS COVID-19 tracking dashboard shows Fletcher has had 46 positive cases total. Twenty-four students and two staff members tested positive October 15. That's the date classes went online. Since then the dashboard shows 14 students have tested positive.
At Douglas Anderson six students tested positive October 18 and the dashboard shows no new cases since then. The number of total positive cases there is 11, which is the same as at Sandalwood Elementary and San Pablo High School.
Valerio says she's mostly excited to go back to school Friday.
"I finally feel like I get to press play on senior year again," she said.
Douglas Anderson orchestra teacher Brian Griffin says his class has been doing a good job at following safety guidelines in class and he has enough hand sanitizer.
"It's really hard to do what we do in group-based art areas online," Griffin said. "Imagine having football practice online."
His takeaway from the school's closure is what the school district wants everyone to think about.
"Hopefully this is a learning opportunity for everybody," Griffin said. "Hopefully everybody will continue to be mindful of what they do outside of school and that can ultimately impact what we do at school."
View the DCPS COVID-19 tracking dashboard here.