Christian County Public Schools will switch from in-person to virtual instruction on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, giving students at least a full week away from the classroom as the coronavirus surges across the county and state.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel listed several reasons for the switch but discounted the possibility that schools being in session could be playing a part in the county’s rising coronavirus incidence rate. The rate was 54.7 on Tuesday, compared to 33 a week earlier.
“It’s a two-day week. It’s a good time to get a reset,” Bentzel said Tuesday afternoon during a virtual news conference. “It’s a good time to deep clean some buildings. It’s a good time to give students (and staff) a chance to come off the quarantine list … It’s a good to do some make-up work and some missed assignments and get students caught up.”
He added, “Obviously the incidence rate with the way it’s climbed, maybe we can help slow down this COVID-19 spread in Christian County and across the state, if possible. I don’t think we are a direct link. I know that we have been in a school a long time and we have not seen a correlation.”
Since Christian County Public Schools returned on Sept. 8 to in-person instruction, 118 students and 51 staff members have tested positive for the virus, according to the state’s dashboard. Last week, there were 23 new student cases and nine new staff cases.
Bentzel cited the state’s largest school district, Jefferson County, where the incidence rate was above 60 this week.
“Jefferson County has not been in the school for the whole year and their incidence rate is rising over the last six weeks and they have not been in school,” he said.
Monday was the first day Christian County’s incidence rate surpassed 50. As of Tuesday, 270 new COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the county within the past week.
Bentzel said the county incidence rate – the number of new daily cases, averaged over seven days and adjusted for a population of 100,000 – is not the only metric that the district considers when deciding whether to continue in-person instruction. The district also considers positive cases in the schools and information from the hospital and pediatricians.
The state recommends that schools suspend in-person instruction when the incidence rate reaches 25.
“I do believe that looking at the big picture is important,” Bentzel said.
Of particular concern, he said, is the number of staff members who are quarantining because of contact with an infected person outside of a school setting. Those numbers are not reflected on the state’s dashboard for schools because school districts are only required to report quarantines resulting from a contact in a school setting.
“Right now we are fine,” he said, but added the district doesn’t want to get “into a staffing issue.”
Bentzel stressed that students are not getting a weeklong holiday for Thanksgiving. They will be expected to do school work at home the first two days of the week. Many of them will be catching up on assignments.
School personnel are being encouraged to limit their exposure to social gatherings next week. The district plans to return to in-person instruction on Nov. 30; however, Bentzel said administrators will be checking in with staff during the weekend after Thanksgiving to determine if that is feasible.
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He praised district employees for their efforts since schools reopened in early September.
“Overall, the district is moving forward and I believe we are doing a great job of mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and we’re getting in-person learning taken care of,” he said.
In preparation for a week away from the classroom, the schools will be stocking food bundles with nine days of student meals for those who need the provisions. The bundles will be distributed between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday. Parents and guardians who have questions should call their school or the central office.
Students who do not have access at home to technology or internet, will be provided “accommodations for their work while at home,” according to a district news release.
Bentzel said roughly 95% of the county’s 3,600 middle and high school students have received a Chromebook from the district.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and co-founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
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.
