Pinellas County Schools mobilizes for Hurricane Milton

Update: All Pinellas County schools and offices will now be closed from Monday, Oct. 7, through Friday, Oct. 11. All sports and school activities scheduled for those dates are canceled. 

As Hurricane Milton approaches the Florida coast, Pinellas County Schools (PCS) is taking action to support emergency efforts while ensuring educational continuity for students.

All Pinellas County schools and offices are closed through Friday. All sports and school activities scheduled for those dates are canceled. In the meantime, the school district is working closely with Pinellas County Emergency Management to prepare up to 20 schools as emergency shelters.

“We’ve mobilized about 1,000 employees, from bus drivers, food service workers, maintenance staff, administrators, our schools’ police force and more, to get ready to support the county for the storm,” said PCS Superintendent Kevin Hendrick. “As we prepare to open those shelters over the course of the next 24 hours or so, we take the lead of the EOC [Emergency Operations Center] in identifying those schools and locations to have those shelters open, and we’ll support whatever is needed to help our county get through this next hurricane.”

Monday afternoon, Pinellas County announced the opening of six emergency shelters in advance of Hurricane Milton: 

• Largo High School (general population and pet friendly): 410 Missouri Ave.
  N., Largo
• Gibbs High School (general population and pet friendly): 850 34th St. S., St.
  Petersburg
• Palm Harbor University High School (general population and pet friendly): 1900
  Omaha St., Palm Harbor
• Palm Harbor University High School Bldg. 19 (special needs): 1900 Omaha St.,
  Palm Harbor
• Dunedin Highland Middle School (special needs): 70 Patricia Ave., Dunedin
• Oak Grove Middle School (special needs): 1370 S. Belcher Rd., Clearwater

The school district has already implemented closures and relocation plans for affected schools. Hendrick emphasized the district’s commitment to maintaining educational continuity.

“When a school closes, we find the best location to continue that instruction. Right now, the State of Florida does not allow virtual participation in school, and you have to be in person,” Hendrick explained. “If a family were to be displaced and need to go to a different location throughout the state or another part of the country, we would encourage them to enroll in school there, and when they return here, we’ll get them right back in the same place where they left. But so far, we’ve been able to reunite everyone and keep school going, and we plan on doing the same when this storm passes.”

While the full extent of the storm’s impact remains uncertain, the district has prepared multiple contingency plans to address various scenarios. Hendrick acknowledged the mixed emotions within the community following Hurricane Helene, and emphasized the school system’s role in restoring a sense of normalcy once the storm passes.

“Some families lost everything; others had minimal impact. So across our county, there’s weariness among staff and our families and our students, and then there’s some who are eager to get back to normal,” said Hendrick. “As we look at Hurricane Milton, the challenge is, what will it be like? Do we know where it’ll hit? What would the impacts be? Our job as a school system is to try to get that normalcy back for families once it’s over, so when schools can reopen, the community can get back to some sense of normalcy.”

“Anxiety is high, and we, as the school system, are trying to bring that anxiety down – be a calming force, operate those shelters, give people a safe place, but then also, let’s try to get back to normal as soon as we can.”

In addition to school closures, the district’s Oct. 8 school board meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 15.

.