The move shutters classrooms to the school district’s more than 190,000 students as the coronavirus spreads locally.

Palm Beach County public schools will close all campuses next week in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, an extraordinary measure reflecting the growing concerns about the pandemic.

The move, announced at a news conference Friday, will shutter classrooms to the school district’s more than 190,000 students until at least March 30.

The across-the-board closures are planned for all of next week and will continue through the following week, when schools were already scheduled to close for spring break, Schools Superintendent Donald Fennoy said.

The sweeping decision, nearly unprecedented outside of hurricane season, comes less than 24 hours after the county reported its first two local cases of residents infected with COVID-19.

"This is a rapidly evolving situation," Fennoy said, "and it is important to understand that my first concern is with the health and welfare of our students and our staff. Canceling schools is the first step to ensuring that."

The school district’s more than 11,000 teachers will be asked not to report to school, but administrators and cafeteria workers will continue to work, Fennoy said.

School sporting events and other extracurricular activities, including all district-sponsored school trips, are also canceled next week.

The closures do not affect voting at school-based precincts for Tuesday’s presidential primary and municipal elections.

The move sent parents across the county scrambling to make child-care arrangements for next week, a prospect that could grow more difficult if some day-care centers decide to follow the district’s lead in shuttering.

At Poinciana STEM Elementary in Boynton Beach, Sunshine LaMont sighed when she heard the news and wondered who she would ask to watch her 7-year-old son.

"I will have to decide today where my child is going to go starting Monday," she said. "I work in a hospital. I still have to come to work. Where are my options?"

Jennifer Jones, whose son attends Timber Trace Elementary in Palm Beach Gardens, said she will have to resort to asking her parents to help out next week while schools are closed.

"I don't think it's the best idea to cancel school," she said. "Now what are we going to do with the kids if the parents work?"

Authorities across the country have grappled with whether to close campuses as the coronavirus spreads.

Scientists debate the effectiveness of closures, and the benefits have to be weighed against the hardships created for working families.

"I understand that closing schools will be a burden on many families," Fennoy said. "I don’t take this lightly. I am the superintendent, but I’m also the father of a 4-year-old who goes to day care."

School administrators are working to arrange meals next week for students who depend on their schools for breakfasts and lunches. Fennoy said how those meals would be distributed was still being worked out.

[UPDATE: Thirty campuses will distribute free breakfasts and lunches to children next week, the district announced.]

District leaders will decide later whether to resume classes March 30 or postpone them further.

In the meantime, administrators said in a statement that they will "assess how to best transition to digital, remote learning in the event that we must remain closed for an extended period of time."

The decision to close the roughly 180 campuses was the first announcement of a large-scale shutdown of K-12 schools in Florida over coronavirus concerns. But others soon followed.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Martin counties announced hours later that their public schools would close next week, and other counties were expected to do likewise.

Later Friday, the state Department of Education said it would delay by two weeks the start of state testing for K-12 students.

The DOE also recommended that all schools statewide remain closed through March and cancel all extracurricular activities.

The prospect of local school closings over coronavirus concerns seemed far-fetched as recently as last week. On Monday, Fennoy said in a message to parents that the chances of normal school operations being disrupted were "remote."

But with the number of Florida infections growing each day and testing still limited, officials said closing campuses had become a necessary step to limit infections.

"I believe it’s the right move to close the schools in an abundance of caution," School Board member Karen Brill said. "I’ve received a lot of calls from parents whose students are in compromising health situations. We are really in uncharted territory."

"I think it’s going to keep the children and the communities and everyone safe," School Board member Marcia Andrews said. "You don’t have the testing right now so you don’t know if anybody has it or doesn’t have it."

Scientists say coronavirus poses far less of a threat to most children than to the elderly and to those with compromised immune systems.

But even children with no serious symptoms can pass on the virus to others, making schools a potential hot spot for its spread.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released guidelines for school closures suggesting that the benefits of shutdowns shorter than a month may be limited.

"Available modeling data indicate that early, short to medium closures do not impact the [rate of spread] of COVID-19," the CDC stated.

The agency went on to say that closures of a month or more may be beneficial "as part of a larger community mitigation strategy."

Jupiter resident Natalie Gundrum said she was fortunate to run her own business, making it easier for her to plan a road trip to Destin next week after the cancellation of classes.

Although she considers the closures an overreaction, Gundrum said she understands the decision.

"It's preventive and it's precautionary," she said, "and I knew they were going to do it."

Palm Beach Post staff writers Sam Howard, Sonja Isger, Emily Sullivan, Jodie Wagner and Kristina Webb contributed to this story.

amarra@pbpost.com

@AMarranara