BATON ROUGE – On April 15, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a proclamation closing K-12 public schools in Louisiana for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

Students are to continue getting their education via remote learning as the state continues to fight the spread of COVID-19.

“Closing public schools in Louisiana for the remainder of the year is not a choice I was excited to make, but it is one that is necessary to protect the safety of our children, our teachers and staff and the community at large,” Gov. Edwards said. “But, I want to be clear about something: This isn’t the end of learning, it’s just the end of students physically going to school campuses for the remainder of the semester. Remote learning will continue and, we will all work together to make sure that our students do not fall behind academically. In addition, we expect that school systems will continue to provide nutrition and meals for students.”

“To our students, I want to thank you for learning in such trying times, and I want to thank our teachers for committing to remote learning and keeping a connection with you. It is not lost on me that our parents are being asked to manage so much more than they ever expected they would have to, and I thank them for taking an even more active role in their children’s education than normal,” Gov. Edwards said. “And to our soon-to-be graduates: I do not have the words to tell you how proud I am of you for your accomplishments, especially under such hard and unconventional circumstances. We will properly celebrate you in time, when it is safe. We will all get through this together and we will come back stronger than we were before.”

To read the full proclamation, you can do so by clicking here.