GAINESVILLE – The tuition deadline for students attending Gainesville City Schools who live outside of the school district has been extended twenty days.
The quarterly payment scheduled for September 10th will now be due on September 30th. School board members approved the deadline extension unanimously at their meeting Monday evening, saying Tropical Storm Irma has placed extraordinary financial burdens on numerous families.
Board member Sammy Smith said, “I shared this idea last week in light of Hurricane Irma…and we have a number of students whose households were affected with the hurricane, including the need for restocking food and the fact that some parents have lost wages.”
According to the school system’s website, students who elect to attend Gainesville City Schools but live outside the city limits of Gainesville are responsible for $800 in annual tuition. Additional siblings from that household who choose to attend Gainesville schools pay a slightly lesser fee tuition of $700 per year per student.
Payments may be made quarterly with September 10 being the first one of the new school year. (The remaining payments are due January 10, March 10 and July 10.)
Kathy Pethel, Director of Finance for the school system, confirmed that there are several families who have not paid the tuition due eight days ago, and their tardiness might be storm related.
School Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Williams agreed that Irma caused manifold problems for school operations as he gave his report. “Last week was definitely a very trying week for many of our families. Many were without power for the majority of the week.”
“As a school system we were fortunate to just have a couple of minor issues. We did have a couple of buildings that had to work on a generator,” Williams detailed.
With classes cancelled all week, adjusting the school calendar will be the next undertaking of administrators, but Williams did aver that the upcoming October break (October 6-10) would not be affected. “We’re way too close to that point in time to start messing (with) and adjusting calendars.”
“We can always catch up on learning,” Williams said. “We never want to put a kid in a position to where their safety is compromised; last week was one of those weeks that we had to make those decisions.”
