Lee, Collier schools closing ahead of Hurricane Ian

Nikki Ross, Naples Daily News
·3 min read

Collier County Schools will be closed on Thursday, the district said Tuesday.

Here is the most up-to-date information on what schools in Southwest Florida are doing in regards to Hurricane Ian.

Lee and Collier public schools already reported schools would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Charlotte County public schools have also cancelled school for Tuesday and a meeting was planned for noon to discuss the rest of the week.

Colleges such as FGCU, Keiser University and Hodges also announced plans to close.

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Hurricane Ian 5 a.m. Sept. 26, 2022.
Hurricane Ian 5 a.m. Sept. 26, 2022.

Collier County School District

Schools will be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday out of an "abundance of caution," according to the district.

All school district sites will be closes, all after school-programs will be closed. All extracurricular activities including athletic practices and competitions will be cancelled. All adult and community education classes will be cancelled. All district leases will be suspended.

The district will decide before 4 p.m. Thursday on the district's operations for Friday.

School operations in the district remain as planned Monday with students who were already off school for a teacher Professional Development Day.

At this time, there will be no hurricane make-up days. Hurricane make-up days would be Nov. 21 and 22. Fall break at this time remains Nov. 21-Nov. 25.

The latest information can be found on the website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Lee County School District

Schools will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the district. District offices will also be closed. All after-school programs and extra-curricular activities are suspended.

The district will decide before 5 p.m. Wednesday on whether schools will be closed for the remainder of the week.

Schools were open Monday as normal.

The district will evaluate their instructional calendar to decide what dates will be used as hurricane make-up days.

The school district said it will continue to monitor the storm and update families regularly with emails, phones calls, text messages, messages on its website and posts on its Facebook page.

Florida Gulf Coast University

Classes are cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the university.

All campus events are also cancelled.

Campus leaders will continue to monitor the storm's potential impact and will make a decision regarding Thursday operations by 3 p.m., Tuesday.

Students who remain on campus for the storm will be relocated to a university-designated shelter. Details about the location will be provided to on-campus students by the university's housing office.

Food and beverages will be provided to on-campus students at the designated shelter.

FGCU will provide updates on its website. You can also find updates on Twitter.

Nova Southeastern University

The Fort Myers and Tampa Bay campuses will close Tuesday through Sunday and all previously scheduled events on both campuses will be rescheduled.

More details regarding online and remote learning will be given directly to students by end-of-day Monday.

Normal class schedules and building operations are planned to resume on Monday, Oct. 3.

For more updates, visit their website's hurricane resource page.

Hodges University

The university's campus in Fort Myers planned to close from 5 p.m. Tuesday through Wednesday. The campus will reopen for regular hours on Thursday. Ooline classes will continue as scheduled.

For updates, visit its website.

Keiser University

The university's Naples and Ft. Meyers campuses will be closed Wednesday and Thursday.

At this time, classes and business operations are set to resume on Friday. If that changes, students, faculty and staff will be notified.

Nikki Ross covers education for the Fort Myers News-Press and Naples Daily News. She can be reached at NRoss@gannett.com, follow her on Twitter @nikkiinreallife, Instagram @reporternikkiinreallife or TikTok @nikki.inreallife.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Hurricane Ian closes Collier, Lee schools; FGCU, Hodges also closing