Sarasota County Schools Cancels Some Friday Activities as Hurricane Matthew Looms

SARASOTA, FL — Update, Oct. 6, 1:10 p.m.: Sarasota County school kids hoping for a long weekend courtesy of Hurricane Matthew are out of luck. The county’s school district announced late Thursday morning that it has no plans to cancel classes.

“Public schools in Sarasota County will be open as usual tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 7,” the district wrote in an email to media. “If anything changes, such as cancellations or rescheduling of athletic activities scheduled for Friday night, we will update you.”

The district announced early Thursday afternoon that a decision had been made to cancel "Friday's extracurricular activities, including all athletic events." The change does not impact after-school care or classes on Friday.

Sarasota County is under a tropical storm watch as Hurricane Matthew nears the state. That means tropical storm conditions are possible within the next day or so.

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As of the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. Oct. 6 update, Hurricane Matthew was positioned about 30 miles south-southwest of Nassau, Bahamas. The system was moving northwest at 12 mph and was packing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

“Additional strengthening is expected today, and Matthew is forecast to be a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches the east coast of Florida,” the hurricane center’s report said. Hurricane-force winds extended out up to 40 miles Thursday morning. Tropical-storm force winds extended out 160 miles, forecasters said.

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