‘Open Our Schools.’ Protesters say Fayette school officials aren’t listening to them.

As protesters wanting an in-person return to schools chanted outside Central Office loudly enough to be heard during an indoor school board meeting, Fayette County Superintendent Manny Caulk defended the decision to wait.

Citing a rise in COVID-19 cases, Caulk said more than 12 schools would be under quarantine now if a full return had already taken place. He said the district is experiencing the largest of positive cases among students and staff to date. Updated numbers were not immediately available Monday night.

Carrying signs saying “Open Our Schools,” the social media-based group ‘Let Them Learn in Fayette County’ protested for the second time in a few months. They were galvanized by last week’s board decision that students in Fayette County Public Schools will continue at-home learning with limited face-to-face instruction until winter break.

Schools will continue to offer two-hour in-person afternoon classes called targeted instruction on an increasing and expanding basis, but board members scrapped the previously discussed idea of returning to face-to-face instruction in November. At-home learning or non-traditional instruction will continue to be offered.

Jeremy Brown and his wife Allison Knabe, who have four children in the district, said they were among dozens who came to the rally because their children are struggling with at-home learning.

“This whole online thing is just not working for us,” said Brown.

A leader in the group, Greg Prince, said school board members and district leadership ignored their own survey, which showed that about 80 percent of staff and families said they wanted an in-person return.

“No one seems to be listening,” said Prince.

Fayette district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall explained during the meeting, however, that although there was a desire among survey respondents to return to school, written comments were more complicated and many families did not want to return on Nov. 2 as was once recommended.

Deffendall clarified that 54 percent of the 41,000 families in the district selected a hybrid model that called for two days each week of in-person instruction. Twenty seven percent of the families did not respond to the survey and twenty percent requested remote learning, she said.

Caulk said that there was nothing he would like better than to return to in-person. learning. But he said that staff and school leaders expressed worries about the health risks and other complications of an immediate five days a week in-person return. He asked for a moment of silence for a Fayette school bus employee and a permanent substitute teacher who have died of COVID-19 since schools shut down in March.

In the week of Oct. 19, 40 schools provided the two-hour classes to 1,738 students. On the week of Oct. 26, 63 schools and special programs provided that targeted instruction to 3,007 students, Deffendall said. That said, there have been several schools that have invited families to send students for targeted services, only to have parents decline because of concerns with COVID-19.

Elementary schools chief Heather Bell gave the example of one school that had invited 40 students for targeted instruction, but said only 22 came because of the health concerns. In some cases, students who participated last week did not come to class this week because of increasing infection rates.

Lafayette band director Charles Smith told families in a message Monday night that a student in the band had tested positive for COVID-19 and that some freshman band members were in quarantine as a result.

Across Kentucky, several public and private schools have returned to in-person learning, but many have returned to virtual classes for a time as the state deals with a coronavirus surge.

School board chairwoman Stephanie Spires said board members wanted to continue to hear from families.

“We are listening,” Spires said.

Board member Tyler Murphy said as long as conditions warrant a full return in January, by December there will be “clear plans and protocols in place.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 7:26 PM.