Jefferson County Schools Close for Solar Eclipse
July 11, 2010 Eclipse
Williams College Eclipse Expedition
Jay M. Pasachoff, Muzhou Lu, and Craig Malamut
Jefferson County Schools will be closed on August 21, 2017. The closure is not denoted on the current school calendar and was added during Thursday’s School Board meeting. Jefferson County School’s Director, Charles Edmonds, expressed concern to the Board regarding the safety of the students during the solar eclipse event that will be taking place on August 21st. Safely viewing an eclipse requires special glasses to prevent eye damage. Because of this and the timing of the event, which is expected to take place during the traditional hours that students would be traveling home from school, several local school systems had already declared that they would be closed for the day. According to Director Edmonds, the day can be counted as a “snow day” or substituted for a professional development day, should the need arise.
On his recommendation, School Board Member Jarnigan made the motion to cancel classes for August 21, 2017. He was 2nd by School Board Member Cox, and the Motion passed 6-1 with School Board Member Fair voting No.
