Beshear asks all schools in Ky. to postpone in-person opening until third week in August.

Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday recommended that all Kentucky public and private schools postpone their start date for in-person learning until the third week of August to curb the spreading coronavirus.

“We believe it gives us a chance to get this thing under better control,” Beshear said. He said kids can’t get back to school safely with an uncontrolled surge of the virus.

“My concern is if schools start before this, we’ll see cases in schools. And if we see a lot of early cases in schools, it will be harder to get all of our schools open for in-person classes in some way that works for those families,” Beshear said.

Several private schools have previously announced start dates for around Aug. 12. and their intentions to start with in-person learning. At least 18 public districts said earlier that they would start Aug. 12.

Fayette and Jefferson school districts and a few others plan to start with remote learning only. Fayette will start the school year on Aug. 26.

Eric C. Kennedy, Director of Advocacy for the Kentucky School Boards Association, said Monday morning that other districts might decide to move to only offering distance learning, but as of now the vast majority, nearly all, districts are planning to begin the year with both in-person instruction under the state health safety guidelines, and also online instruction options.

This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 4:49 PM.