How will KY schools look when they reopen? Will kids be punished for not wearing masks?

Kentucky students and staff will have to stay six feet apart, wear a cloth face mask and submit to COVID-19 screenings when schools reopen in the fall, Education Commissioner Kevin Brown confirmed Wednesday at a governor’s news conference.

Also Brown said, when students walk through schools and when they ride buses they will need masks.

‘When you move you mask,” he said.

Gov. Andy Beshear and Brown unveiled some of the Kentucky Department for Public Health standards -- both requirements and recommendations-- for reopening Kentucky schools in the fall. State officials released a 24-page guidance document Wednesday night.

Brown said there would be recommendations for smaller classes, staggered arrival and dismissal times, tape marking a distance of six feet in hallways, and provisions for contact tracing. Masks will be required any time students and staff cannot stay 6 feet apart, unless there is a medical reason they cannot do so.

“We are going to provide real guidance on how to do this safely,” Beshear said. He said it would be irresponsible for the state not to make recommendations that would protect students and staff.

Brown pointed to the COVID-19 death of Monroe County teacher John Page to explain to parents why students need to wear a mask. Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman mentioned the death of a Fayette school bus driver, Eugenia Weathers, that was attributed to the coronavirus.

During a webcast with superintendents on Tuesday, Brown said children shouldn’t be punished for failing to wear a mask or taking related precautions, including social distancing and hand-washing, but it should become an issue similar to a dress code.

Coleman, Secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and a former educator, said parents should tell children who don’t want to wear a mask to school that it is much more comfortable than “wearing a respirator” if they get the coronavirus.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky schools shut down in-person learning in March in exchange for at-home learning through late May. Most school districts had not yet announced by Wednesday when they would reopen and what changes they would make, with superintendents saying they were waiting on direction from Beshear.

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk said he expects by next week to announce the date that the district will open in the fall and specific information on in-person and at-home learning decisions. Beshear previously told superintendents they could open as early as July, but Caulk told families in a message Wednesday night that he was certain Fayette schools would not open in July.

He said he is committed to providing in-person instruction in some form. The district is also developing “robust distance learning options” for families wanting an alternative to on-campus instruction because of health considerations and in the event that Non-Traditional Instruction or NTI has to be implemented again, Caulk said.

Brown said wearing a mask, spreading out and washing hands will keep schools open.

Coleman said the state will lift some regulation so that school districts will be able to change the ways they do things “in the name of safety.”

The guidance released Wednesday contained feedback from the Kentucky Department of Education, superintendents, teachers and many others, Brown has said.

Some people or communities may resist some of the requirements , but school officials should set examples of compliance themselves and get coaches and athletes and notable figures involved, he said.

Associate Education Commissioner Amanda Ellis said in the webcast that school officials should think proactively and have preventive measures ready for various situations such as keeping a supply of masks on hand, including aboard buses, for students who lack them.

If a student waiting for the bus has no mask or has a temperature above 100.4 degrees, they can’t be left at the bus stop, said Kay Kennedy, who works for the state department of education. Instead, they should be isolated to the extent possible on the bus, and his or her parents or guardians contacted upon arrival at school, she said.

The Healthy At School guidance specifies that masks will not be required on children who aren’t yet enrolled in 1st grade, Associate Education Commissioner Robin Kinney said in the superintendent webcast.

If parents choose not to send students to school due to mask requirements, compulsory attendance still applies, Brown said. Districts may consider options for students to include in-person instruction or remote learning.

Public health officials have said that transparent face shields don’t provide the same level of protection as closely fitting masks.

Standards for precautions in school sports will be coming soon, Brown said

State officials said in a news release Wednesday night that although the guidance is not backed by legislation or administrative regulations, schools that don’t follow it open themselves up to the potential spread of the virus, in-school contact tracing and closings if cases develop.

Beshear said during the Wednesday news conference that superintendents should encourage their district employees to get tested. Brown has said that Beshear would like 10 percent of school employees tested for COVID-19 each week. Schools’ insurance should cover the cost, Brown said.

When a student or school staff member tests positive for COVID-19, the health department in their home district will be notified, Deputy Public Health Commissioner Connie White said at the superintendents webcast.

Contact tracers will ask that person about who they have been near, which is why schools need detailed records on bus and in-school contacts, she said. Improved contact tracing means one case of COVID-19 is unlikely to require closing a whole school – unless that district is lax in enforcing social distancing or mask policies, White said.

This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 5:28 PM.