124 KY districts are now back to in-person classes. What Lexington can learn from them.

The day McCracken County Schools Superintendent Steve Carter’s district was supposed to reopen to in-person instruction this school year, several staff members at one elementary school tested positive for COVID-19.

That elementary school alone continued virtual instruction for two weeks. But the other 10 schools in the district started a hybrid model by alternating two days each week of in-person learning, Carter said.

That’s among the experiences that Kentucky school officials have shared about what’s working, what’s not, what’s changed and what’s been tough about reopening Kentucky schools in the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Thursday, 124 of 171 school districts have started in-person classes, according to the Kentucky School Boards Association. A few have moved back to virtual because of community spread or high numbers of quarantines.

Fayette County public schools are preparing to move from at-home classes to bringing back some students for two hour classes of face-to-face learning later this month and later, expanding in-person classes. Gov. Andy Beshear said this week that Frankfort Independent schools were returning for two hour increments for some students as well.

In Fayette County, several school board members have been calling for more detailed planning, with board member Tyler Murphy on Thursday sending Superintendent Manny Caulk several dozen written questions asking for specifics on both the two-hour and hybrid in-person learning models.

The challenges that Fayette is bracing for appear common in other districts too.

“The more you get into in-person instruction, you’ll see that it gets easier over time .. working through quarantines and isolations,” McCracken County’s Superintendent Carter said this week at a virtual superintendents meeting with Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass.

After just two days in session for face to face instruction, 114 Lincoln County students and staff were quarantined, partly due to positive staff cases, said spokesman Brad Smith.

A portion of them were in quarantine before in-person instruction resumed on Sept. 28 due to exposure to positive cases outside of school, he said.

The Lincoln district quarantine got the attention of Beshear who said at his Wednesday afternoon news conference the district was doing the right thing.

The Lincoln County Health Department determines which staff and students must quarantine, Smith said. He said Lincoln County schools are still offering in-person and virtual learning to all students.

“They can choose. However, quarantined students are all on virtual. The district has supplied hot spots and Chromebooks to all students,” he said. Quarantined students will not be counted absent ,and will work virtually.

The K-12 School Public School Heath report said there were more than 800 positive active cases among Kentucky students as of Thursday.

In Madison County, one of the things that changed as schools reopened is that there may only about six or seven students in a given classroom.

“We’re able to do a lot of one-on-one and a lot more personalized learning,” said district spokeswoman Erin Stewart. Most teachers are finding they can get through more content in a day.

Some middle school kids are eating their lunch on individual desks in the gym. Teachers are finding creative ways for children to take mask breaks, including taking a walk outside. There are new signs to guide people, to tell them where to stand for social distancing, and reminders to wash hands and wear masks.

Madison elementary and middle school students are learning in-person two days a week and from home three days. High school students are still learning only virtually because their schedules are more complex, but some high school students could be returning to in-person learning later in the fall.

She said students have not complained about complying with health precautions.

‘We are all doing the best we can to make it work because we want to get back to things that feel normal,” Stewart said.

In McCracken County, after beginning Aug. 24 with a virtual week, 72 percent of students are now attending in person two days a week and learning from home three days a week, said Carter. The rest are virtually learning only.

Starting and ending times for schools have been altered and bus routes modified so that elementary students are riding together and high school students are riding together separately.

One problem was ensuring internet access for every student. The district has provided 140 wireless hotspots, he said.

Marion County Superintendent Taylora Schlosser said at the superintendent’s meeting that parents in her district can decide every four weeks whether their child attends in-person classes, and in-person attendance is now at 80 percent. Students can go back to virtual learning anytime.

Students have adapted well to wearing masks, Schlosser said

However, she said it has been tough to cover for absent teachers, to deal with frequent changes in public health guidance and to communicate important dates and rules to the public.

Metcalfe County Schools Superintendent Josh Hurt said about 750 students -- half the total in the district -- returned for in-person classes on Aug. 31. Classes are four days a week, with Friday at home virtual learning day for everyone.

Hurt said things went smoothly the first four weeks. But he said it’s hard for students to bounce between in-person and at-home classes. The stress level is high for teachers and support staff because of the extra workload, he said.

Metcalfe schools had to go to all at-home virtual learning Sept. 28 due to a staff member testing positive for COVID-19 but the district plans to return to in-person learning.

Superintendent Alvin Garrison of Covington Independent Public Schools said his district, which opened for in-person classes on Sept. 28, is using a hybrid model for its nearly 4,000 students, alternating groups of students on different days, with Wednesday as a teacher planning day. Online tutoring for all students is available.

In a few weeks that district hopes to return to full in-person instruction four days per week, he said. The district also has a virtual academy.

Garrison said finding adequate staff to cover classes in case of a disease outbreak had been hard.

Computer and food distribution has worked well, but the district had to rent 700 computers because some ordered for students haven’t arrived.

Fayette Director of Technology Bob Moore said this week that about 6,000 students in the district had not yet been assigned Chromebooks, but staff has been moving around Chromebooks to the children who need them. The district is waiting for delayed shipments of 10,000 chromebooks and has had to repair several devices. All low income elementary school children in Fayette now have a Chromebook. All elementary schools have Chromebooks for 75 percent of their students. All schools now have enough Chromebooks for every student receiving free and reduced-priced lunch, he said.

Fayette high school students are more likely to have their own devices so fewer of those students have been assigned a Chromebook by the district. Bryan Station High School didn’t have enough devices for students this week so that is the district’s next priority, Moore said.

Moore said by next week, Fayette should be able to send hotspots for families to all schools that have asked for them.

The district received a shipment of about 700 hotspots Friday, Moore said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 10:55 AM.