An unprecedented number of schools have been ordered to shut down in the midst of fears surrounding the novel coronavirus. Schools have been grappling with big questions around interrupted learning, access to remote learning opportunities and the negative effects on students, especially those with disabilities or from low-income families.
Many school districts have set up meal services to provide aid to those families either through distribution sites or by bus route delivery. High school sports have either suspended their seasons or games have been played without fans, leaving many seniors in limbo during their final season.
See a collection of photos from around the country that capture some of the disruption these students, schools, and their families are experiencing.
Donald Lee, a school resource officer, locks the gates of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School for Science and Technology, after all the students left, in New Orleans, Friday, March 13, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards closed K-12 public schools across the state for roughly a month and banned gatherings of more than 250 people in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Sara Black, a teacher at Glen Lea Elementary School in Henrico County near Richmond, Va., hugs a student goodbye on Friday, March 13, 2020. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered all schools in Virginia to close for at least two weeks as the coronavirus spreads, a move that follows similar orders in several other states. (Joe Mahoney/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
Regina Jones, with American Building Maintenance, disinfects a school bus in Vicksburg, Miss., to combat the coronavirus, on Friday, March 13. Students in the Vicksburg Warren school district return from spring break and go to back to classes on Monday. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post via AP)
Parents wait for their children after school was dismissed for an extended closure at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School for Science and Technology in New Orleans, Friday, March 13, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards closed K-12 public schools across the state for roughly a month and banned gatherings of more than 250 people in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)
Students wait outside of John Marshall High School in Los Angeles after being let out early following an announcement of a districtwide closure caused by the coronavirus threat Friday, March 13. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)
A swing sits empty on a playground outside Achievement First charter school in Providence, R.I. The public charter school, like a nearby Catholic school, closed after a teacher who attended the same Italy trip awaited test results for the new coronavirus. But at Achievement First, the two days off were treated like snow days. There were no special assignments, and no expectation that kids keep up their schoolwork. (David Goldman/AP Photo)
Servepro employee Joseph Felks cleans chairs and other items at Joyner Elementary School in Tupelo, Miss., on March 11, 2020, as the Tupelo Public School District conducts a cleaning of all its campuses to help combat the spread of the coronavirus while the students are on spring break. (Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP)
In this photo provided by Anne Marie Canlis, Clementine Canlis, of Seattle, watches an online lecture Thursday, March 12, 2020, after her private school closed for five weeks due to the coronavirus. The Canlis family’s three children, ages 14, 11 and 9, are split between two private schools that are closed for six weeks and five weeks, respectively. Canlis’ husband’s family owns a well-known, award-winning restaurant called Canlis that will close next week and instead open three different options: a bagel shop, a drive-thru burger stand in the restaurant parking lot and a home delivery meal service for cooped up families. (Anne Marie Canlis via AP)
Free groceries are packed for distribution to the elderly at Hope Community Services, Friday, March 13, 2020, in New Rochelle, N.Y. State officials set up a “containment area” in the New York City suburb, where schools and houses of worship are closed within a 1-mile radius of a point near a synagogue where a person with coronavirus had attended events. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)
Ileana Koons, right, hands Jorge Rodriguez, left, a container of meals to be delivered to students on March 12, 2020 in Bothell, Wash. As schools across the U.S. close their doors to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, some are scrambling to keep meals going for millions of students who need them. (Olivia Vanni /The Herald via AP)
Maria Ochoa and Selvin Jimenez, 10, pick up food at a distribution point in New Rochelle, N.Y., Thursday, March 12, 2020. State officials have set up a “containment area” in the New York City suburb, where schools and houses of worship are closed within a 1-mile radius of a point near a synagogue where a person with coronavirus had attended events. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)
Custodial staffer Hortensia Salinas uses an Electrostatic Clorox Sprayer to spray disinfectant in a classroom March 11, 2020, at Brownsville Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas. The Brownsville Independent School District made the sprayers available to its campuses as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald via AP)
Pleasant Hill and Hicks High School play the boys’ state championship Class C game in a largely empty Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles, La., March 13, 2020. Fans were banned from the arena to conform with a state mandate prohibiting large gatherings of people. (Rick Hickman/American Press via AP)
The Auburn fan section got creative by placing paper plate faces on the seats during the Class 1C boys high school basketball tournament championship game against Ogallala at Pinnacle Bank Arena, March 14, 2020, in Lincoln, Neb. Crowds were limited to staff and immediate family due to concerns over the coronavirus. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
The Scottsbluff section had signs in the seats for their game against Omaha Roncalli during a Class B game of the Nebraska state boys high school basketball tournament at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln on March 13, 2020. Crowds were limited to staff and immediate family only due to fears about the coronavirus. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)