Schools to cancel outdoor activities, excuse early dismissals for solar eclipse

It has been called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but Aug. 21’s solar eclipse is posing a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for Sarasota County Schools.

Sarasota County will experience a partial eclipse. Although the height of the eclipse will be visible around 2:50 p.m., it will be visible in stages between 1:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. — when district schools will dismiss students between 2:15 and 4:15 p.m.

Sarasota County Schools is “urging extra caution during dismissal time.” Absences from early dismissals will be excused on Aug. 21 if parents want their child home early.

Outdoor school activities like athletics, recess and physical education classes will move indoors between 1:15 and 4:15 p.m. 

“There have been several incidents where people have had damage to their eyes, even some who have been blinded,” said SCS Athletics Director James Slaton. “I just don’t think as a district we want to take the chance that that could happen to even one student.”

There had been talk that Sarasota schools, as well as other districts, could consider going into a lockdown during the eclipse or shutting all schools early.

“We don’t have the ability to keep them in school later,” Superintendent Todd Bowden said at the Aug. 15 school board meeting. “We can just educate them ... It’s certainly something that we believe has an education value to our students, but it’s also an event that needs to be approached with an appropriate level of precaution.”

NASA says looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse is dangerous except for when the sun is completely covered by the moon — which won’t happen in Sarasota County this time. The only way to view the eclipse is through eclipse glasses, which are available online and are far darker than regular sunglasses. It is also unsafe to view through a camera, binoculars or telescope.

At the same time as the district is taking precautions, some schools are using the eclipse as an educational opportunity. For schools and classes planning eclipse-related activities or projects, parents must sign permission slips before their student will be allowed to participate, and only pre-planned activities with the necessary approved safety eyewear will be permitted.

Fifth-graders at Tuttle Elementary School, for example, will be allowed to go outside to view the eclipse, with a signed permission slip, while all other students will watch a livestream indoors, according to Principal Tomas Dinverno.

“It’s a pretty amazing thing, and we want to be able to do it in the most safe way that’s also connected to their learning,” he said.

Pam Novak, a parent with students in sixth, third and first grades in Sarasota County Schools, said she’s excited about the educational opportunity.

“I’m excited as long as it’s safe,” Novak said. “I have confidence that the administrators and teachers will make a wise decision about how it can be carried out.”

For more information about the eclipse, where to purchase safety glasses and other safe practices for viewing it, visit NASA’s eclipse website. There will also be a live stream of the total solar eclipse that will be visible in other parts of the country.