January return for KY schools depends on COVID spread. Can teachers get early vaccines?

Educators and parents want Kentucky schools to return to in-person instruction in January, but ”that’s going to be dependent on our infection numbers heading in the right direction,” Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass said Wednesday.

“Right now, we are not heading in that way, and the holidays are concerning as we look ahead,” he said. “COVID-19 is causing us to do some complex calculations” regularly to judge if infection rates are too high to risk exposing students, teachers and staff. There were 3,601 new cases Wednesday in Kentucky and a record 37 deaths, according to state data. That followed 4,151 new cases and 35 deaths Tuesday.

Glass said he will meet with Gov. Andy Beshear Thursday, and Beshear will meet with superintendents Friday, ostensibly about how and when educators will get newly arriving vaccines under the state’s distribution process. Beshear said Wednesday at a news briefing that he wanted educators vaccinated as early as possible.

“The conversations are happening in real time, and they are happening right now.... we know it’s so important that we get school back open,” Glass said.

Meanwhile, he said school officials have to consider the escalating risks of rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases. While Beshear’s executive order shuts down all in-person instruction and requires remote learning through Jan. 4, it does allow for limited, targeted face-to-face instruction to small groups. Elementary students, who some researchers have said don’t spread the virus easily, can return for in-person instruction on Dec. 7 as long as the school is not in a critical red zone county and follows health rules.

Beshear intentionally did not extend the executive order beyond Jan. 4 to allow for deliberation, Glass said.

“With the vaccine on the horizon ... it’s also my hope that we will be able to go back to in-person instruction in the foreseeable future,“ said Glass. He said if people want to get kids back in school, they have to practice social distancing, wear masks and take other safety precautions. Glass said he understood the disruptions that the starts and stops of in-person instruction are creating, but the decisions are made with the intent of protecting all Kentuckians.

At a Tuesday meeting with superintendents, Deputy Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Connie White said when the Pfizer two-dose vaccine becomes available, the state will get fewer than 40,000 doses in the first round of distribution. The vaccine has not yet been fully tested for use in children, according to the state Department of Education.

Kentucky’s first doses will go to healthcare providers and nursing home residents, though there won’t be enough to vaccinate them all, White said.

‘“With only 40,000 doses, we’re going to make a start’,” she said. Educators are in the second category for distribution, but so are many other professionals, such as first responders, White said. More than 70,000 doses of a second vaccine developed by Moderna are expected later,’” according to an education department news release.

Kentucky High School Athletic Association Commissioner Julian Tackett said he has a meeting later this week with Lt Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Beshear’s staff. Next week, the KHSAA board is going to meet to revise or reaffirm decisions for school-based sports. Winter sports had been delayed until at least Jan. 4.

State board member Sharon Robinson asked Glass at a Wednesday education board session if state and school officials could prepare for the social and emotional impacts of isolation and the impact of the uncertainty and anxiety that students have experienced during the shutdowns. She said some students could be behind academically.

Upon returning, she said, students would need new help to stay on track. Some could be traumatized.

What’s coming next is not without its challenges, Glass said

In addition to traumatized students, there will be significant challenges for educators as they transition from a “fractured model of education” of some in-person instruction, some virtual, and all sorts of hybrid in between.

Glass said when schools transition to all in-person when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, there will be a significant restructuring of schedules. That complex undertaking will add additional stress on educators across the state.

He said the Kentucky Department of Education could start working now on what supports it will provide.

“We’re about to go through another change and we need to start working on that.,” Glass said

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 4:48 PM.