He’s a dad dealing with at-home learning in Lexington. He’s also KY’s new education chief.

Kentucky’s new education commissioner Jason Glass is more than just a professional observer of decisions about Fayette County Public Schools’ reopening in the 2020-2021 school year.

He’s a Fayette County public school parent.

Glass has rented a home in Lexington and his children, 8-year-old Norah and 7-year-old Chase, are attending Rosa Parks Elementary School.

“I have a personal connection to Fayette County. We live there. Our kids are Fayette County Public School students. We’re living this in real time in our house,” said Glass.

With both public criticism and support, Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk has said his district won’t go back in person until at least early October because of the high number of cases in the county.

“I think Fayette County and Superintendent Caulk are looking at data in that community and trying to evaluate what’s best for the students, what’s best for the community, how they create quality learning experience and at the same time make sure they are keeping their kids and their staff and their community safe,” said Glass.

“It’s a tough balance,” Glass said. “I support Superintendent Caulk and the board in Fayette County making the best decision for that community.”

At home, Glass said, “our kids are doing the best that they can with NTI -- remote instruction -but they also are ready to go to school and meet some new friends and establish those connections. I definitely understand the pressures.”

Glass talked to the Herald-Leader Friday just as he finished his first week as commissioner and has been “working to manage the crisis ... around COVID.”

He and the staff at the Kentucky Department of Education helped the Department of Public Health roll out a color-coded system to help school districts decide what model of learning -- in person, virtual or hybrid, would be best for them. He also worked on a required reporting system on the known COVID cases at a school, and students and staff that are under quarantine.

At least 50 school districts have gone back to in-person learning in advance of Gov. Andy Beshear’s recommended date of Sept. 28. A few districts have already had to close because of outbreaks.

In the new color-coded system, decisions on school instruction and activity for each coming week will be based on the color level at 8 p.m. each Thursday.

The color-coded system recommends specific mitigation measures based on levels of disease transmission. The four levels include:

• Green -- with fewer than one case per 100,000 county residents, green means schools can hold either in-person or remote classes as long as schools are following state healthy at school guidance.
• Yellow, with 9.9 or fewer cases per 100,000 people, also allows in-person or remote learning and sports, but with heightened mitigation steps as coordinated by local officials, school administrators and public health leaders
• Orange, with 24.9 or fewer cases per 100,000, means schools should take into account a variety of factors to determine if they should move to remote learning exclusively.
• Red, for more than 25 cases per 100,000, means schools should move the following week to all-virtual instruction. Sports and all extracurricular activities must be suspended. Only essential staff should regularly be in school buildings.

Caulk has said Fayette County has been in the orange range.

Glass said the key to school reopening is having layers of virus mitigation strategies, not just one thing such as masking or social distancing. He said a plan also has to be in place for quarantine, shutdown, and a shift back to virtual learning.

He said that moving forward in Kentucky, as a vaccine becomes available, the question will be how do Kentucky schools restore more in-person services.

Glass, a native of Brandenburg, had been serving as superintendent and chief learner for Jeffco (Colorado) Public Schools in the metro Denver area since 2017. It is Colorado’s second largest school district. He was also superintendent of the Eagle County, Colorado district for 4 years. Prior to that, Glass headed Iowa schools.

An issue that has loomed large for Kentucky’s recent superintendents is their position on charter schools. Glass worked with charter schools in Colorado and in Iowa.

Charter schools are allowed in Kentucky but the first application to open one was denied and many advocates fear they will harm traditional public schools.

Is Glass in favor of charters or against them?

“I wish I could give you a clear yes or no answer....but I think the honest answer is it’s complicated,” Glass said.

He said a charter school might be of value to a community “and then there are places where it would actually be a detriment, it makes the creation of a quality education system more difficult for a community or a state.”

Glass said returning to his home state is a professional dream come true.

He was hired by a state board of education appointed by Beshear, a Democrat, who had promised a new commissioner during his 2019 gubernatorial campaign. The position of education commissioner also previously changed hands under a state board appointed by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Glass said he understands “that this is a very political position and I came into it eyes wide open.”

“We need to accomplish as much positive impact as we can in the time that we have,” Glass said. “I’m going to work hard to deliver positive goals for Kentucky and hope that my tenure here is long and successful.

“But I know these are political jobs. I’m going to try and extend that by doing a lot of listening and making sure my decisions are the right fit for Kentucky based on what the people here tell me we need, “ he said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 3:54 PM.