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Following Hillsborough’s Farnell Middle School, Tampa Prep closes as well due to coronavirus

The two schools “overlap,” according to the school’s notice
 
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Published March 12, 2020|Updated March 12, 2020

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Tampa Preparatory School has closed its campus until March 30, according to a notice that went out Thursday.

No one was in the private school office to answer questions about the decision. But the notice gave this explanation:

“First, the coronavirus seems to be increasing in Hillsborough County.”

Second, the document said, the Hillsborough County School District closed Farnell Middle School because of a report that someone at the school had been in contact with a coronavirus patient.

There was no indication that the person at Farnell has the virus.

Nevertheless, school officals wrote, “our community and the Farnell Middle School community overlapped within the last 24 hours.”

Unlike Farnell, which will be closed just for two days and a weekend leading into Spring Break, Tampa Prep will remain shuttered for more than two weeks.

The school has asked its students to “be prepared to engage in online communication with their teachers beginning, at the earliest, on Tuesday, March 24.” On that day, “there will be a communication sent to students and parents with specific instructions regarding what online learning and interactions may entail.”

The school pointed out that many universities and colleges have already shifted to online learning for the duration of the health crisis.