COVID-19 closes this Kentucky district in November. Longer school year ahead.

A southeastern Kentucky school district, troubled by coronavirus cases, on Tuesday shut down both in-person and virtual learning for the rest of November.

The decision by Perry County Superintendent Jonathan Jett is a departure from that made by other school district officials in Kentucky that are using either in-person or virtual learning or a combination of both. Kentucky School Boards Association staff did not immediately know of another district that has taken similar action.

Perry County Schools began the year in classrooms in late September but switched to virtual classes during October.

Jett said in a Monday social media post that he hoped the latest move would allow the district to add 11 days of in-person instruction to the end of the school calendar in May. Jett said he might also choose to cancel school for an additional 10 days at some point so that students could have a total additional 21 days of in-person learning at the end of the school year.

Jett said he also plans to offer school on Saturdays for struggling students, beginning in January.

“Over the last few weeks we have attempted to find ways to bring students back in person,” Jett said. “Unfortunately, with the increase in cases, this is not possible at this time. We know the value of in-person instruction for both students and teachers. “

In an effort to have as many in-person days as possible this school year, Perry County Schools, including its NTI-Virtual program, will be canceled until Nov. 30.

In addition to Saturday School, summer school in Perry Country is expected to begin immediately following the end of the school year for any struggling students, Jett said.

Jett couldn’t immediately be reached Tuesday afternoon. The K-12 School Public Health Report said Perry schools as of Nov. 10 have had a total of 19 student coronavirus cases and 21 staff cases. The district has about nine schools.

In statewide K-12 schools, 414 students and teachers are newly positive, according to Kentucky’s school coronavirus dashboard.

At least 1,744 students and 306 staff are in quarantine this week from virus exposure. Last week, at least 6,275 students and teachers were quarantined.

In Fayette County this week, families received e-mails from individual public schools asking whether they wanted students to return to in-person classes or use virtual learning when the new semester begins in January.

District officials say they want the data at this point to help make plans. Fayette students are largely learning from home with limited in-person learning through the end of the year.

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk at Monday’s school board meeting asked people in the community to wear masks and observe other measures to curb the infection so students can fully return to in-person learning in January.

This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 7:28 AM.