Hurricane Ian Updates
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.
Saturday, Oct. 1
OCPS families, we appreciate your cooperation and patience during Hurricane Ian. We hope you and your family remained safe.
Now that the storm has passed, our maintenance teams continue to address power outages with our electrical providers. Unfortunately, after consultation with Orange County officials schools will NOT reopen Monday, October 3 due to safety concerns and continued power outages at a number of our schools. Our plan is to reopen schools and resume normal operations Tuesday, October 4.
All student activities will resume sometime next week. Athletic competitions will be determined at the schools’ discretion.
Our focus has been on evaluating our facilities and returning students to school next week. A decision on make-up days will be forthcoming.
Thank you for your cooperation and patience as we return to school next week. We continue to be tested as a community, and I am confident in our resiliency and ability to collaborate and support one another. We look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday.
Thursday, Sept. 28
We hope you and your families made it through the storm safely. We understand there is quite a bit of wind damage and flooding across the county as a result of Hurricane Ian. First thing tomorrow morning, district officials will begin assessing all OCPS schools and facilities for damage. The goal is to open all schools and work locations Monday, October 3. We will provide an update in the next 24 hours on the status.
Any parent or guardian of a student in need of assistance can call 311. Be sure to continue to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you for your support and please stay safe.
Tuesday, Sept. 27
Due to the latest path Hurricane Ian is expected to make, school and extracurricular activities have now been canceled Wednesday, Sept. 28 through Friday, Sept. 30. Athletic events will be rescheduled. This will allow district maintenance crews the time to clear any debris in the aftermath of the storm as well as allow our employees and families to do the same.
If you are in need of shelter during the storm you can find a list of shelters at ocfl.net/storm.
We will send another update on Friday via phone, email as well as a text message and on ocps.net and social media.
Monday, Sept. 26
Due to the forecasted potential impact of Hurricane Ian on Orange County, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 27, all after-school extracurricular activities are canceled except for extended day which will be open until 6 p.m. Beginning on Wednesday, September 28, all schools and facilities will be closed and extracurricular activities will be canceled through Thursday, September 29.
County emergency management personnel will be hosting special needs and general population shelters in select schools. To see the list of shelters please visit ocfl.net/storm for more information.
We will continue to update you throughout the storm. The district will send messages by phone, email and text. Updates will also be posted on ocps.net and our district Facebook and Twitter pages regarding school operations.
We will provide information about make-up days at a later time. To see the list of bad weather make-up days you can click on the school calendar on ocps.net.
Sunday, Sept. 25
At this time, there are no plans to cancel school or extracurricular activities for Monday or Tuesday. You will receive another update Monday evening as we get more information on the storm’s path. OCPS works closely with the National Weather Service and local emergency management offices before any decision is made.
Remember, prior to and throughout any storm the district will send messages to OCPS families by phone, email and text. Please sign-up to receive text messages by typing the word “Yes” to 68453.