East Franklin Junior High is temporarily closing its doors because of COVID-19 concerns. This comes a few days after students returned to school Aug. 20.

The school closed Aug. 25 and will not re-open until Sept. 8. This is based on recommendations from the Alabama Department of Public Health and the toolkit for re-opening schools.

Franklin County Superintendent Greg Hamilton said he would not go into the specifics of how many positive cases there were because of privacy rights of employees and students.

During the time when school is closed, students will move to virtual learning. EFJHS Principal Megean Berryman said virtual learning will be a challenge because it is so new, but she and her teachers are up to the task.

“I feel like we have been prepared for it the best that we can,” Berryman said. “My teachers all worked diligently before school started to begin preparing for a situation such as this. We are all going to do whatever it takes to keep our students’ health and safety as our top priority.”