Social gatherings during the holidays could keep Christian County’s coronavirus incidence rate elevated, which in turn would prolong the time students have to stay out of their classrooms, Superintendent Chris Bentzel acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday.
“If you want to get Christian County Public Schools back to in-person learning … we have to wear a mask, we have to spread out, we have to wash our hands. And we have to be responsible and safe in public settings and not socially gather,” Bentzel said. “If you are in your home and you are hosting a large Christmas party or a large whatever … that’s going to continue to increase the spread in our community. So please don’t do those things, so we can get back to in-person learning.”
Bentzel also said he understands people are being asked to make sacrifices for the greater good at the same time they are experiencing pandemic fatigue.
“We’re all tired of being separated and isolated,” he said.
Across the country, health experts are warning that social gatherings, often in homes with extended family and friends, will further escalate the spread of the coronavirus. The virus is already spreading at record levels locally, across the state and nationwide — and hospitals are now preparing for more COVID-19 patients after many ignored warnings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others, to avoid travel and large family gatherings for Thanksgiving.
Christian County’s incidence rate, which is the average of new daily cases adjusted for a population of 100,000, was 47.8 on Tuesday. That puts the county in the red zone for those with a rate of 25 or more. Under the executive order that Gov. Andy Beshear issued on Nov. 18, school districts may send elementary students in kindergarten through fifth grade back to in-person instruction only if the community incidence rate is in the orange zone, or below 25.
COVID-19 cases reported by day in Christian County
Bentzel said Christian County won’t be able to reach the orange zone in time to get elementary students back in the classroom before the Christmas break. Beshear’s order says middle and high schools may not return to the classroom until Jan. 4.
The order also addresses in-home gatherings through Dec. 13. Those should be limited to eight people from no more than two households.
In a virtual meeting this week with Kentucky education officials, Bentzel said the state’s superintendents learned there are no announcements expected before the Christmas break that would change the governor’s order.
Bentzel said non-traditional instruction, better known as NTI, is going as well as it can. He remains focused on getting students back in schools as soon as possible and maintains schools do a good job of mitigating the spread of the virus.
The district is sending administrators and support staff to about 150 homes a day to check on students who are not showing up for virtual attendance checks or who might want a food delivery or need a welfare check. Each of the county’s 14 schools sends three or four staff out on a bus to about a dozen homes a day. The bus provides room for staff to keep social distance, along with space for food supplies.
“The purpose is to engage our students,” Bentzel said. Schools are trying to keep students from failing classes and to make them aware there are consequences for failing to do their school work.
Every school also has late hours, from 3 to 8 p.m., with at least two staff members present to take calls from parents.
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.
