TAMPA, Fla. — School districts through the Bay area are evaluating their situations for resuming operations in the wake of Hurricane Milton.

Here’s a list of the latest information with Bay area districts:

What You Need To Know

PINELLAS: Schools will reopen for students on Wednesday, October 16.

District and school-based staff will:

  • Finalize building preparations to ensure health, safety and security

  • Run transportation routes to ensure the safety of bus routes and stops

  • Ensure cafeterias are ready to serve students

  • Plan for the academic return of students

The first quarter of the school year will now end on Friday, October 18. The district proposal for make-up days/minutes will be discussed at the School Board Workshop on October 22. 

HILLSBOROUGH: Hillsborough County Public Schools will bring school-based and district staff back on Wednesday to plan and prepare to welcome students to school on Thursday, October 17.   

School-based and district staff, with help from countless volunteers, made tremendous progress yesterday cleaning up campuses from the damage from Hurricane Milton. 

As of this morning, there are 35 schools without power. We have been assured that our utility partners will be able to get all schools back online in the next 36 hours.  

We have also made the decision to extend the first quarter to Friday, October 25, giving students adequate instructional time to complete the grading period. Our Academic Services team is reviewing the calendar to determine necessary adjustments to make up the required instructional time and we will communicate that at a later date.  

PASCO: Pasco County Schools students will return to school on Wednesday. Athletics and after-school programs will resume this week as safety allows.

POLK: The school system on Tuesday released this statement: "PCPS schools are ready to reopen for students tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 16.

We will follow the normal school calendar at this time, which means early dismissal on Thursday, and no school for students on Friday.

Please see our complete update for important information about bus service and potential make-up days."

For a more extensive update on recovery efforts, click here.

MANATEE: Students returned Tuesday

Updates will be shared through Mass Notifications phone calls, emails and texts, as well as through our social media sites on Facebook (ManateeSchoolsGoodNews), X (formerly Twitter) (@Manateeschools) and on our district website at https://www.manateeschools.net/storm.

HERNANDO: Hernando schools will not be open Monday as it was previously scheduled. No announcement has been made about Tuesday.

CITRUS: The Citrus County School District are open on Monday, Oct. 14.

UPDATE: Due to the instructional time lost from the recent hurricanes, we will be making up the following days:

Monday, October 21st 

Monday, November 11th 

And December 20th will now be a full instructional day. 

We recognize that October 21st was originally scheduled as Fall Break, and November 11th is Veteran's Day. However, we must meet the state's instructional hour requirements for the year. Please know that we deeply value our veterans, and we plan to honor them in meaningful ways in our schools on November 11th. 

AREA COLLEGES

St. Petersburg College: All campuses and offices will be closed Monday, the school said Saturday.

Eckerd – Remote: https://www.eckerd.edu/news/blog/hurricane-milton/

Hillsborough Community College – open Monday: https://www.hccfl.edu/

University of Tampa – Open: https://www.ut.edu/about-ut/university-services/emergency/tropical-weather-alerts

Stetson University – Normal Monday, classes Tuesday: https://www2.stetson.edu/today/2024/10/stetson-monitoring-tropical-depression/

Saint Leo – Students, faculty, and staff may return to the university campus, Tampa Education Center, and Center for Adult Learning locations on Saturday, Oct. 19. Classes and university operations will be running as scheduled on this date. https://www.saintleo.edu/weather-advisory 

Polk State – Opening Monday: https://www.polk.edu/news/polk-state-college-will-reopen-monday-following-hurricane-milton/

PHSC – Normal Monday: https://phsc.edu/