The district will send messages to parents by phone and update the website and social media pages regarding any impact to school operations. Parents, please make sure your child's school has the correct contact numbers and email addresses on file for ConnectOrange calls and emails.
Update #5 -- Wednesday, Aug. 30
OCPS families and employees, we hope everyone made it safely through the storm. We are very thankful that our schools and facilities avoided any major impacts. We want to let you know all schools and district offices will return to normal operations tomorrow, August 31. All after-school activities will resume tomorrow as well.
I am happy to announce that due to the adjustment in our instructional minutes this year students will NOT have to make up the lost day due to Hurricane Idalia. A decision on the make up day for 10 and 11 month employees will be forthcoming. We appreciate all of our employees who assisted in preparing for the storm and helped with the assessments and clean up. We look forward to our students and employees returning tomorrow. We truly appreciate your support and patience over the past several days. Of course, our thoughts are with those impacted by Hurricane Idalia in the Big Bend area of north Florida.
Thank you for your support of Orange County Public Schools.
Sincerely,
Dr. Maria Vazquez
Superintendent
Update #4 -- Tuesday, Aug. 29
District leadership is continuing to monitor and track Hurricane Idalia. Based on this morning’s forecast, sustained wind speeds will exceed 35 MPH on the west side of Orange County and as a result there will be no school for students on Wednesday, August 30.
All after-school activities must end tonight by 8 p.m. and will be canceled for Wednesday. We are planning on resuming school on Thursday, August 31. We strongly encourage everyone to prepare for the possible impacts from the storm.
We will continue to communicate all updates through phone calls, emails and text messages, as well as posts to OCPS social media pages, and on ocps.net.
Information regarding make-up days will be forthcoming. Thank you and stay safe.
Update #3 -- Monday. Aug. 28
Orange County Public Schools is continuing to monitor and track Tropical Storm Idalia. Based on this evening’s forecast all OCPS schools and facilities will be open tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 29. After-school activities will continue but must end by 8 p.m.
A decision on the cancellation of school for Wednesday will be made tomorrow morning after the National Weather Service update. As a reminder the primary decision point for any potential closure is if sustained wind speeds exceed 35 mph. That is the threshold for our buses to operate safely on the roads. Current projected sustained wind speeds for the western parts of Orange County may exceed 35 mph.
We strongly encourage everyone to continue to prepare for possible impacts from the storm. We will continue to communicate all updates through phone calls, emails and text messages, as well as posts to OCPS social media pages, and on ocps.net.
Update #2 -- Monday. Aug. 28
Orange County Public Schools is continuing to monitor and track Tropical Storm Idalia. Based on the current forecast school will be open tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 29 for all OCPS schools and facilities.
Any decision on the cancellation of after-school activities on Tuesday or school on Wednesday will be made later this evening or tomorrow morning. The primary decision point for any potential closure is if sustained wind speeds exceed 35 mph. That is the threshold for our busses to be safely on the roads.
We strongly encourage all of our employees and families to continue to prepare for possible impacts from the storm and follow Orange County Public Schools on social media.
Update #1 -- Sunday, Aug. 27
District leadership is continuing to monitor the developments of Tropical Storm Idalia. We will have school tomorrow, Monday August 28. The models are predicting possible impacts Tuesday afternoon or evening and Wednesday. We will provide communication when decisions are made for Tuesday and Wednesday. Please continue to take advantage of the tax free preparedness holiday. You can also follow Orange County Public Schools on social media for updates.
Thank you for your support of OCPS.