Pasadena Unified will close schools beginning Monday, March 16 until April 5, Superintendent Brian McDonald announced on Friday.

There will be a deep cleaning of all school sites during that period. Students will return to class on April 6, barring any further developments.

Teachers and staff will report to work on Monday, and more information will be sent to them later in the day.

The district is planning to continue instruction for students via Powerschool, in which teachers can send assignments to students through an online portal. This system will be operational on Monday.

Although it’s unclear when it will start, the district is planning a second and third phase of remote instruction, including Powerschool Online Classrooms, and later “distance learning with two-way flow of work between students and teachers is in development in case it is needed,” the news release says.

School meals will continue to provided for students beginning on Tuesday, March 17. More information and locations for meal pickups is available here.

The move was made “in an abundance of caution and in response to widening concerns about COVID-19,” a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, the release says.

It concludes: “We are taking this proactive step to protect our students, staff, families and communities.”

Earlier in the day, both Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified school districts announced similar closures, all in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus which can lead to COVID-19, a respiratory disease.

On Thursday, the PUSD school board voted unanimously to give Superintendent Brian McDonald emergency powers. Officials said it will allow more flexibility to handle a rapidly changing situation, such as the spread of the new coronavirus.

The school district confirmed four staff members have been tested for coronavirus and are currently self-quarantined. There are no confirmed cases within PUSD at this time.

This article will be updated as more information will be available.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This article’s headline has been changed for clarity.