Governor Laura Kelly announced Tuesday afternoon that Kansas schools will be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

Within minutes of the announcement, Great Bend USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton issued a message.

“This will place tremendous hardship on our families and staff, and impact the social and emotional well-being of our students,” Thexton stated. The district has been working on contingency plans, including how to meet the ongoing needs of students here in Great Bend.

“Our staff and board of education are also working on other critical issues, such as what this means for our seniors, how this will affect next school year, and what impact this will have on our employees. While we continue our work to answers these questions, we want to reassure the community that we will continue to feed students at all elementary locations and the Central Kitchen each weekday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. We are working closely with the Kansas Department of Education and will provide updates as soon as more information is available.”