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Dear Friend,
As many of you know, there’s a lot of new information about the coronavirus in our area, including back-to-school plans for the upcoming school year. Here are the latest updates:
BACK-TO-SCHOOL TAX HOLIDAY: Florida’s annual back-to-school tax holiday is a perfect time to stock up on supplies as children head back to school. Though this year’s school year may look a little different than previous years as students return to class both in person and online, it’s more important than ever to make sure your child is prepared. This year’s back-to-school tax holiday begins Friday, August 7 and runs through the weekend.
Qualified supplies include:
- Clothing, footwear and certain accessories selling for $60 or less per item
- Including: Shoes, clothing, belts, hair accessories, sportswear, etc.
- NOTE: Face masks are included in this year, both surgical and cloth masks
- School supplies selling for $15 or less per item
- Including: Binders, crayons, pencils, rulers, lunch boxes, etc.
- Computer supplies are exempt for the first $1,000 of the sales price per item
- Including: Computers, printers, printer paper, etc.
For the complete list of qualifying supplies, click here.
FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES: The Deltona Fire Rescue Department is giving away free school supplies on Saturday, August 8. The drive-thru will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Dewey O. Boster Sports Complex (1200 Saxon Blvd).
REOPENING FLORIDA SCHOOLS: Many of our schools have announced back-to-school plans, including decisions to postpone the first day of school. If your school is participating in virtual learning, please ensure your child is enrolled and have completed orientation for your child.
- Volusia County Schools have pushed back this year’s school start date to August 31.
- Back-to-school plan:
- All students and staff must go through temperature checks before entering school
- Volusia County Schools are offering three options for back to school, including:
- Option 1: Traditional classroom setting (with health and safety guidelines)
- Option 2: Volusia Live
- Option 3: Enhanced Volusia Online Learning
- Masks are mandatory for students, faculty and visitors
- Desks and workstations will be three and six feet apart
- Rooms will be disinfected between each class
- Flagler County Schools have announced that school will start August 24th
- Virtual School: Flagler County Schools are offering remote learning, virtual learning and brick and mortar learning
- Masks are mandatory for all students, faculty and visitors in third grade and up
- Masks are strongly encouraged for students in grades Pre-K through 2nd grade
- This only applies to brick and mortar learning
- St. Johns County Schools have moved back this year’s school start date to August 31
- St. Johns schools are offering two options for the 2020-2021 school year:
- School-based brick and mortar
- School-based distance learning
- Masks are mandatory for brick and mortar learning for students and faculty in the classroom and in the hallway between classes
- Masks are also required while riding the bus to and from school
- Lake County Schools have pushed back this year’s school start date to August 24
- Lake County Schools are offering four options for the 2020-2021 school year:
- Students are encouraged to wear masks (but not required) while maintaining social distance from one another. This is only if you choose traditional or modified learning.
- Click here to sign up for online orientation before the school year starts
- After completing orientation, submit enrollment paperwork by August 10
- For more information, email lakevirtual@lake.k12.fl.us
COVID-19 TESTING INFORMATION: Coronavirus testing is still being conducted in our community. If you would like to get tested, please check the following links for up-to-date testing site locations.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical baseball team was just awarded the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. This award is given to teams who had a minimum GPA of 3.0 during the 2019-2020 academic year. The team finished the school year strong and each student should be very proud of their accomplishments. Go Eagles!
As always, follow my daily work on social media by liking my Facebook page and following me on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram and feel free to reach out to my offices in Florida or Washington, D.C. if my team or I can ever be of service.
In Service,
Michael Waltz
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