‘Pray for our school.’ Beshear request denied; Ky. academy will greet kids next week

Lexington Christian Academy, a private school in Fayette County with more than 1,100 students, plans to open next week with in-person learning despite Gov. Andy Beshear’s recommendation to delay amid a COVID-19 surge.

The pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school’s board of directors on Wednesday night voted to proceed with an in-person opening on Aug. 19, head of school B. Scott Wells said in a letter to families.

“Keep in mind this situation is ever-changing, and we will continue to monitor the latest guidelines and recommendations very closely,” Wells said.

Earlier Wednesday, Catholic schools in Kentucky, a few other private and at least three public school districts out of 171 also decided not to follow Beshear’s request to delay in-person instruction until Sept. 28.

Beshear, who reported a single-day record for positive tests at 1,163 Wednesday, said he didn’t think the decisions to open were safe and he didn’t want to “gamble or experiment” with the state’s children. He said he hoped that schools would reconsider.

At Lexington Christian Academy, the board and executive leadership team decided that masks would be required for all students in grades 6 - 12, but not pre-school and elementary students, Wells said in the letter.

“Although encouraged to do likewise, preschool and elementary students will not be required at this time to wear masks other than when entering/exiting the building, traveling in hallways and when unable to practice social distancing,” the letter said.

Wells said school officials will continue to monitor current trends and data and will adjust student mask requirements as needed.

Wells cited several factors in making the decision, including the welfare of all students when meeting their spiritual, emotional, and academic needs.

Wells said school officials, in making the decision, received information from staff, families and students, a variety of regional healthcare specialists, and used guidance from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, the Kentucky Department of Public Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control.

The school is offering a virtual option and officials said previously that they have several health directives in place to curb the virus.

“I also implore you to pray for our school as we begin in-person instruction on Aug. 19,” Wells said.

Private and parochial schools aren’t under the purview of the Kentucky Department of Education.

But until this week, public and private schools in Kentucky had largely followed Beshear’s requests on school closings and delays since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.

Fayette schools announced last month that it would start the 2020-2021 academic year virtually only and review the situation again late next month.

Since Beshear made his request Monday, several public districts changed reopening plans and agreed to begin virtual-only learning for the next six weeks.

However, on Wednesday, public school districts Williamstown Independent and Green County announced that they planned to go ahead with in-person learning. According to WAVE-TV, Hardin County also will have in-person classes.

As a result, the Kentucky Department of Education will host a virtual town hall for local school board members on COVID-19 at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. It will be available to watch on the department’s media portal.

The purpose of the town hall is to discuss Beshear’s direction for schools to delay in-person classes.

The guidance he used was driven by several factors, including Kentucky’s cases being near a peak, an increase in infection rates among children across the United States and the experience of school districts in other states that already have reopened to in-person instruction, state education officials said.

Starting school with in-person attendance at this time raises a concern about causing a spike in COVID-19 cases in the community, said Shawn Crabtree, head of the 10-county Lake Cumberland District Health Department, which includes Green County.

“If you spread it widely in the school, it’s not going to stay in the school,” Crabtree said Thursday.

Young people are less likely to experience serious problems from the disease, but the concern is that they will spread it to older people who face much greater risk, Crabtree said.

Green County schools Superintendent William Hodges said in a video message this week that the community “overwhelmingly” supported the plan to reopen in-person instruction on Aug. 17.

“We will work diligently to make this work in a safe environment,” Hodges said.

The school system will have in-person and online options for students.

In an earlier video, Hodges outlined a range of protections for in-person attendance, including making hand sanitizer available, cleaning frequently, doing routine hygiene reminders, checking temperature, using of face masks in some cases and making schedule changes to reduce contact if needed.

Crabtree said precautions help reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

Even observing every precaution, however, “it’s still gonna spread,” he said.

He pointed to outbreaks at the Casey County and Cumberland County health departments.

Employees at both were more diligent than most people about observing safeguards such as social distancing, but still experienced outbreaks that required closing both offices for a time.

Crabtree said he understands the desire and the reasons to reopen schools to in-person attendance, but stressed health authorities believe it would be safer to wait.

“We’re risking spiking it in the community,” he said. “There’s gonna be whole classes in quarantine.”

Meanwhile, Lexington’s private Sayre School is no longer starting the academic year virtually only.

New information from Head of School, Stephen Manella, and Board Chair, Andrea Tew, posted on the school’s website Thursday said the school year will start on Aug. 20 on campus with a soft opening. “We will begin with a combination of half attendance per day on campus on alternating days and/or half-day instruction,” a statement said.

“We have a profound respect for the Governor’s leadership during the pandemic and his recommendations will continue to factor into our future decisions.”

The decision was changed after members of the Board and Manella received numerous communications from Sayre families about the decision to comply with the Governor’s recommendation that all schools delay in-person instruction until Sept. 28.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 9:00 AM.