Christian County school board members will be asked at their Thursday meeting to approve plans for bringing students back into classrooms after the Christmas break. They have been home in non-traditional instruction since Nov. 20.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel said during a media conference Tuesday that he will have a recommendation for a re-entry date. He did not release his recommendation early but did say schools have the option of returning on Jan. 4, while the state wants districts to wait until Jan. 11.
“That will be a local decision,” he said.
Gov. Andy Beshear outlined preliminary guidance and mandates for schools on Monday. He said schools in red zone counties (those with high coronavirus incidence rates) will have to use an aggressive hybrid model if they want to return to the classroom.
Schools also must accommodate staff members who are in high-risk categories for contracting COVID-19 and must provide equal academic access to students who are in virtual instruction, the governor announced. An example of equal access would be teaching Advanced Placement courses both in-person and through virtual instruction. Bentzel said the local district can meet those requirements.
Bentzel said he learned during a conference call with state officials that the aggressive hybrid model will not include a mandate on the number of students allowed in a school building.
During Thursday’s meeting, school board members will also be asked to approve a policy on athletics and extracurricular activities and a plan to vaccinate the district’s 1,250 employees. Bentzel said he will provide the school board will results of a poll asking employees if they want to be vaccinated. He said he expects vaccinations to be given in January or February.
Bentzel said he’s asking the community to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 during the holidays.
“It’s a community incidence rate. In order to slow the spread, schools can’t be the only viable option or solution,” he said. “We have to do it together. Like Team Kentucky that the governor talks (about) … Team Christian County. We have to be in it together. We have to wear masks, we have to social distance.”
It will take “certain sacrifices” to not spend Christmas and New Year’s in big gatherings, he said.
Thursday’s school board meeting begins at 6 p.m. The public may watch it through a live video on the district’s website or Facebook page.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
