By Sentinel Staff
The nearly 400 students at Mt. Edgecumbe High School will be sent home, Gov. Dunleavy stated Monday in a “Covid-19 Health Mandate.”.
“Given the unpredictability of the rate at which this virus will spread, and the containment measures that may be necessary in our unique state, effective immediately residential school programs shall begin the process of returning students to their families and home communities,” the governor said in the second health mandate he has issued since signing the Public Health Disaster Emergency Declaration on March 11.
Monday’s order shutters all Alaskan libraries, archives, and museums.
The Monday health mandate states that the process of sending students home “shall begin immediately... (and) shall be completed by Friday, March 27, 2020.”
Officials at the boarding school have stated previously that in the event it was decided that the students would be sent home, the school would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.
The Sentinel was unable immediately to reach Mt. Edgecumbe school officials in Sitka for comment about the health mandate.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School seniors wear graduation attire as they pose for a group shot in the school yard this afternoon. All boarding school students are being sent home so seniors have been wearing caps and gowns before leaving campus. Some students wore the outfits they had planned to wear at the prom, which will also no longer take place. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
