Fayette schools won’t return to in-person learning until at least early October

Fayette County Public School students won’t be returning to in-person classes until at least after the fall break on Oct. 1 and 2, district officials said Monday as a group of parents rallied outside Central Office for an immediate return.

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk said the school board will meet Sept. 28 to discuss when they might return safely to in-person learning. There would be implementation during a two-week window once a decision was made, he said. Caulk said he wanted to make sure everything was in place.

“We are going at deliberate speed,” said board chairwoman Stephanie Spires.

When in-person learning at Fayette public schools does begin, temperatures of multiple people at middle and high schools would be taken with thermal temperature monitoring cameras under a proposal the board approved. The cost would be $308,000 for 35 cameras, documents said.

District officials said in a school board document that having cameras set-up in the high schools and middle schools would be beneficial to preventing the spread of COVID-19 once schools resumed in-person learning.

The district’s department of Risk Management tested a thermal temperature monitoring camera at a district school bus garage “with great success in monitoring multiple temperature screenings at a time, “a school board document said. “This allows for less wait time of taking individual temperatures.”

The devices will be paid for out of COVID relief funds, district officials said.

A group of parents who want Fayette public school students to return to in-person classes as soon as possible protested in front of Central Office on Monday during the school board planning meeting.

Greg Prince, a leader in the group ‘Let Them Learn in Fayette County,’ said before the rally that families want more communication with and information from district officials. The Facebook group has more than 1,800 members.

The group has written a letter to Caulk asking how the decision was made to begin the school year with at-home learning. The letter asks if district officials had measured the negative impacts of non-traditional instruction.

Prince said non-traditional instruction is causing “more harm to the children than putting them back in school.”

Shonta Mabson said she went to the rally because she thought her three school age children “should be back in school.”

She said she had to quit her job to stay home with her children as they learned from home and she didn’t think families had a chance to prove that their children could safely attend in-person classes.

Marilee Davis, mother of three Fayette County students, said teachers are doing a really good job in a difficult situation as students learn from home.

But she said, “Going back to school is what’s best for my kids.”

Caulk has previously said that because of the high number of positive COVID-19 cases in Fayette County, it has been unsafe to return to in-person learning. School board member Tyler Murphy responded to the group prior to Monday’s meeting, saying any premature decision to return to in-person instruction could cause a spike in cases that causes another round of school and business closures in the community. Board Vice-chairman Ray Daniels said board and district officials need to better communicate their decision-making process to the public.

Students in Fayette County public schools have been learning from home since Aug. 26, though some student athletic teams have started practices and games.

On Monday night, Caulk said in a letter to families that teachers have been working very hard to ensure that students are having a positive experience and that Non-Traditional Instruction 2DL is an improvement over last spring’s at home learning. He said schools are going to be asking for feedback about how NTI: 2DL is going for individual families.

Caulk said the school district has identified three possible instructional models that will be implemented based on the level of community spread of COVID-19 and infection rates in Fayette County

The first, called traditional instruction, combines In-person instruction with preventative practices, processes and protocols. The second, called hybrid instruction, alternates schedules for students between in-person and distance learning. The third model, called non-traditional instruction requires distance learning and school closures to varying degrees.

Caulk said according to the Kentucky Department of Health , Fayette County is currently experiencing accelerated spread of COVID-19. He said the district has set regular intervals every 4 to 6 weeks throughout the school year to reconsider which instructional model is appropriate. The first review window is set for later this month.

Caulk said Fayette schools are actively preparing for the return of some form of in-person instruction. He said floor decals are being placed throughout school buildings to mark safe social distancing, the district has stocked schools with appropriate cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, and classroom furniture has been moved to maximize spacing.

“As a father and an educator, I would like nothing more than to be back in school,” Caulk said. “However, it is not up to me.”

He noted that the coronavirus is making the timeline.

On Monday afternoon, Gov. Andy Beshear said he would not make another recommendation after Sept. 28 about whether Kentucky schools should resume in-person or virtual instruction because a color-coded new state system will help local administrators make that decision. In the new system, there will be two databases of cases.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, said Monday that since the pandemic began, 565 children ages 5-17 who are Lexington residents have tested positive for COVID-19. The number includes children who are homeschooled, enrolled in private or parochial schools or enrolled in Fayette County Public Schools.

The K-12 School Public Health Report, the state’s current dashboard of COVID-19 K-12 school cases, lists cases reported from the local health department’s database who were flagged as being students.

Hall said the data is self-reported by parents or guardians in Fayette County. During the summer or when in-person classes are not occurring, some children may not have been listed as a student by the parent, which accounts for underreporting on the state’s dashboard. There are currently fewer than 40 active cases ages 5-17 in Lexington, he said.

Of the total number of children who have tested positive, the overwhelming majority were exposed in a community setting and did not expose others in the school setting, Hall said. He said the K-12 School Public Health Report is a relatively new dashboard and reporting processes are being worked out.

“We believe that our reporting may be more robust than other counties,” Hall said.

The K-12 School Public Health Report showed that as of Sept. 14, Fayette County had seven new positive cases among students, more than any district in the state, and 33 active cases, 246 students recovered and 279 students who were ever positive. The database showed that there were four active cases among Fayette staff and 14 total positive cases.

Earlier on Monday that database showed 142 new positive cases for Fayette public school students as of Sept. 12, even though in-person classes have not begun.

Susan Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the Fayette numbers as of Sept. 12 were higher due to reporting delays, last week’s Labor Day Holiday, and technical difficulties for prior days. The cases were newly reported by the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department for Sept. 12. Some cases might represent people who have recovered but who were not previously included in the report, she said.

A note on the K-12 School Public Health Report said that numbers are subject to revision as a verification process is completed.

Fayette school officials said Monday night they were working closely with the health department to ensure the accuracy of data.

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 9:16 PM.