Janelle Irwin Taylor
Schools across the Tampa Bay area are closing in anticipation of Hurricane Milton making landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast this week. The closures affect K-12 and colleges.
As of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the Tampa Bay region remained in the storm’s projected possible path, with landfall expected early Wednesday as a category 3 hurricane.
Here are closures announced so far:
University of South Florida
USF is canceling classes and closing all of its campuses, in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Professors may still assign students work on Monday, but students are not required to complete them that day or any day that campuses are closed.
Business operations on Monday will continue Monday remotely.
In an announcement, school leaders said a decision about resuming classes and regular business operations will be made at a later time, when more information about the storm’s impact is available.
Students who live on campus are encouraged to leave the area if they are able to do so. However, residences at the Tampa will remain open, unless future decisions dictate otherwise. Residences at the St. Pete and Sarasota campuses will close Monday by noon. Students unable to evacuate elsewhere will be transported to the Tampa campus. If the Tampa campus requires evacuation, students will be moved to an approved county shelter.
St. Petersburg College
SPC will remain open Monday, but will close Tuesday and Wednesday.
New College of Florida
The school will close its campus Monday through Friday, with classes and extracurricular activities also canceled.
Hillsborough County Schools
All Hillsborough County Schools will be closed Monday through Wednesday, a decision made to allow the county to transition campuses to shelters for local evacuees and for students, families and faculty to prepare for the storm.
Pinellas County Schools
All Pinellas County Schools will be closed Monday through Wednesday, a decision made to allow the county to transition campuses to shelters for local evacuees and for students, families and faculty to prepare for the storm.
Polk County Schools
Polk County schools will be open Monday, but after school activities are canceled. School is canceled Tuesday through Thursday.
Sarasota County Schools
Schools will close Monday through Wednesday.
