Some Central KY schools with critical county COVID-19 levels hold in-person classes anyway

Two school districts adjoining Fayette -- Jessamine and Scott -- are continuing to hold classes in person this week despite the fact that their counties are in the state’s critical “red” stage of coronavirus spread.

Gov. Andy Beshear has reiterated his recommendations for red zone counties, which include moving schools from in-person to virtual learning, working from home as much as possible, reducing in-person shopping, avoiding dining inside restaurants, and other measures designed for citizens to reduce overall activity and limit contacts.

However, Scott Superintendent Kevin Hub told the Herald-Leader: “Local data has us lower than red. We have strict adherence to our safety protocols and it’s safe for our students and staff to remain in person.”

And Jessamine County school officials said in a news release Friday that local leaders have voiced their support of the decision to continue in-person instruction, saying that “while the community may currently be in a Red Zone status, the data does not indicate that the spread of COVID-19 is originating within the schools. “

In Lexington, schools in Fayette County aren’t expected to return to full in-person learning until January. Some limited face-to-face instruction has been occurring.

In explaining that Scott County Schools will remain open in-person, Scott school officials said the Kentucky COVID-19 Incidence Rate Map showed Scott County as a red community with an average of 25.8 positive cases per 100,000 residents.

“As a school district, we monitor this data along with the real-time information made available to us daily by our partners at Wedco District Health Department,” a message to families said on October 29. “At this time, Wedco District Health Department data confirms our ability to safely open school in-person through next week.”

“It is important to communicate that the number of positive cases in our schools has been and remains low,” Scott school officials said. “We agree with our health officials that the science behind wearing masks is making a difference. In each of our schools, strict adherence to safety protocols has prevented the spread of COVID-19.”

Scott County officials asked people to make responsible choices to ensure students can stay in school “and not be forced to transition back to virtual learning. “

On Oct. 29, the Kentucky COVID-19 Current Incidence Rate Map showed that Jessamine County had moved just beyond the “accelerated” spread status threshold of 25 cases per 100,000 residents to an average of 25.1 and has been designated as a Red Zone county at the “Critical” spread status, a news release said.

The Jessamine County School District and the Jessamine County Health Department are monitoring and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in the community and in the schools, the Friday release said.

On Friday, of the district’s 8,200 students and 1,500 staff members, there were 11 active positive student cases (4 of these were in the Virtual Learning Academy) and 3 active positive staff cases of COVID-19.

The numbers have consistently remained low since the beginning of in-person instruction on September 28th, officials said.

Contact tracing results have indicated that, to date, the school district and the health department have not been able to identify any positive cases of COVID-19 occurring as a result of person to person transmission in a school setting, “indicating that protocols and safeguards are working to keep students and staff as safe as possible,” the news release said.

Jessamine County Health Department Executive Director Randy Gooch said that in Jessamine County, the outbreak in a local long term care facility has contributed to the Red Zone designation.

Excluding the center’s residents, local health department data is showing that the county has moved back and forth between the orange and red zones over the previous four days.

“Now is the time for our community to pull together to ensure that we’re taking steps to protect ourselves,” Gooch said in the news release..

Gooch said that his Department’s data shows that of the total positive cases in Jessamine County, the percentage of positive students and staff actually decreased from the time period when all students were learning online at the beginning of the school year, to the time period that the district has had in-person instruction.

“This provides anecdotal information that in-person schools are not a significant contributing factor to community spread, paralleling similar findings across our nation,” Gooch said.

Jessamine Superintendent Matt Moore said the district is seeing social and emotional consequences of the pandemic on students.

“Being able to serve them in-person makes a huge difference in how much we’re able to help them, both academically and with the anxiety and struggles that they’re experiencing,” he said.

Moore said he wants to avoid the disruption of frequent transitions between in-person and digital learning as much as possible.

Because of a parent conference day Monday and Election Day Tuesday, students will return to school on Wednesday in Jessamine County.

Kentucky School Boards Association officials said for the week of Oct. 26, there were at least 26 districts in red counties that continued to hold in-person instruction. The Red status was based off the Oct. 22 map that the state advised districts to use to determine instruction for the week of Oct. 26.

At least 29 districts moved to virtual instruction the week of Oct. 26, though not all of those counties were red. Some moved to virtual because of a high number of students and/or staff who were positive or in quarantine.

Also, 12 school districts in Kentucky have yet to start in-person classes.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 10:01 AM.