With the Covid-19 crisis waning down thanks in part to the new vaccines and social attitudes, Gov. Beshear is asking that schools in Kentucky open March 1. is what Beshear announced this morning:
Gov. Beshear Recommends Schools Return to Some Form of In-Person Learning March 1
Lt. Gov. Coleman highlights new COVID-19 guidance for schools from Kentucky Department of Education
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 23, 2021) – On Tuesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced he is issuing a new executive order that recommends all school districts, including private schools, offer or expand some form of in-person instructional opportunities beginning March 1.
If district personnel have not yet finished their vaccine series as of March 1, the executive order recommends some form of in-person instruction begin seven days after they have received their second vaccination.
“What we foresaw is that the safest way to expand in-person opportunities is to vaccinate all of our school personnel,” said Gov. Beshear. “Since then, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others have moved that way and other states have followed our lead.”
Lt. Gov. Coleman said the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) issued a comprehensive, 136-page manual, KDE COVID-19 Guidance 2.0, which will assist with the shift back into school buildings.
“Kentucky continues to be a national leader in vaccinating our school staff, and getting our kids back in the classroom safely remains a top priority for every Kentuckian – from the Governor to our littlest learners,” said Lt. Gov. Coleman. “With this guidance, we hope to make the transition back to in-person learning as smooth and safe as possible.”
Lt. Gov. Coleman said the manual advises schools on planning school-related student travel; administering spring state testing; operating schools after teachers and staff are vaccinated; assessing knowledge gaps caused by the pandemic’s impact on learning; and using second round Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funding.
Locally, Dr. Rob Fletcher also had announcements today as follows:
“…Prior to this series of winter storms, we were using the recommended “aggressive hybrid model” where 1/2 of the students (whose parents wanted them to attend) were in the building. We had a few days in January where we had students in classrooms with social distancing. Weather limited the number of days that we had students in the buildings.
Of course, the winter storms caused us to close down. Due to power outages and weather, today is Day 10 of no school – no online/no in-person. The AEP base camp is tentatively scheduled to begin the breakdown process on Friday. Also, our school staff received the second round of COVID vaccinations on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I am developing plans for next week and beyond based on this information and the Governor’s conference from yesterday.
Here are the plans for the remainder of this week. I will get you the plans for next week by tomorrow.
February 23, 2021
Dear Lawrence County Family,
The last two weeks have seen historic power outages, numerous road closures, and extremely tough living conditions for a large part of our county. All learning options (@School, @Home, and @ LC Virtual) have been closed since February 11th. Realizing that we are still on the road to recovery, here are the school plans for the remainder of the school week:
Wednesday, February 24th
- No school for STUDENTS. There will be no in-person learning. There will be no virtual/at-home learning.
- Food delivery will occur on main roads and clear-roads only. Three days of meals will be delivered.
- Families may also pick up food at any of the six schools from 8 AM to 12:30 PM. Three days of meals will be available.
Thursday, February 25th
- All students will participate as Option 2: All In @ Home students.
- Teachers must provide review material only through work packets/assignments that should be posted on Google Classroom and easily accessible for printing.
- Buildings will be open for students to pick up work if they do not have internet. Parents may also bring students to school to connect to the school’s internet, if necessary.
- STUDENTS MUST BE GIVEN SEVERAL DAYS TO DO THE MAKE UP WORK IF THEY DO NOT HAVE INTERNET.
Friday, February 26th
- All students will participate as Option 2: All In @ Home students.
- Teachers must provide review material only through work packets/assignments that should be posted on Google Classroom and easily accessible for printing.
- Buildings will be open for students to pick up work if they do not have internet. Parents may also bring students to school to connect to the school’s internet, if necessary.
- STUDENTS MUST BE GIVEN SEVERAL DAYS TO DO THE MAKE UP WORK IF THEY DO NOT HAVE INTERNET.
- American Electric Power is scheduled to begin the “break down” process for their base camp that is located in the Louisa Middle/football field parking area.
We do plan to return to our hybrid schedule of Monday, March 1st, but I will send out more information on later in the week. To close, we hope all is well for you and your family, and we appreciate your being…
All In,
Robbie L. Fletcher, EdD
Superintendent, Lawrence County Schools
