Fayette schools extend winter break, won’t return to in-person learning before Jan. 11

Fayette County Public Schools will not return to in-person classes before Jan. 11, Acting Superintendent Marlene Helm said Monday.

The district will extend winter break through Jan. 4, 5 and 6. After that, the spring semester will begin with remote learning on Jan. 7 and 8. Fayette’s original school calendar called for classes to resume Jan. 4 after break.

The change will give district leaders time to evaluate the holiday season’s impact on community spread of COVID-19 and enable schools to “finalize logistical details to return safely and gradually to in-person classes,” a Monday news release said.

The calendar revision shifts three instructional days from January to the end of school, which makes Tuesday, May 18, the last day of class for students.

COVID-19 data will be examined on Jan. 5 and every Tuesday to determine if in-person classes can return the following week.

District officials on Monday presented a tentative, but not a full plan, for a graduated or phased in-person return to school plan. When students return to in-person cases will be determined by the number of coronavirus cases in the community.

Helm said Fayette County currently stood at the highest level of community spread of coronavirus cases since March.

She said everyone “longs” to return to in-person learning but COVID-19 is driving the decisions.

Helm said district officials don’t yet know when educators will be offered the COVID-19 vaccination.

School Board Chair Stephanie Spires said more details of the plan will be released soon. Spires said the more than 40,000 students in the district won’t be sent back into school buildings at once.

On Monday afternoon, Beshear and the Kentucky Department for Public Health recommended that schools not return to in-person instruction until Jan. 11 in order to prevent further spread of the virus by people who gather with others over the Christmas holiday.

Beshear said that under an updated policy, students will be able to return to a hybrid learning model of remote and in-person learning even in counties that are in the state’s red category with a critically high number of cases. Teachers 65 or older, or those with heart, kidney, or lung problems will be able to teach virtually.

At a virtual meeting last week, some members of a state principal’s advisory council -- including a Fayette principal -- told Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education they would not recommend to Beshear a January return to in-person instruction amid COVID-19, Department of Education officials said.

A state news release quoted Jennifer Hutchison, principal at Picadome Elementary in Lexington as saying that when looking at the information provided by national health experts, she has a hard time creating an argument in favor of a return to in-person instruction in January.

“I want to be back in school more than anyone,” Hutchison was quoted as saying. “But I have a hard time arguing that that is the safest thing to do for my students and for my staff members.”

Establishing an early spring return date would help alleviate some of the anxiety about what is going to happen with schools and provide clarity on when they will return, Hutchison said in the release. Additionally, she said this would allow teachers the opportunity to focus their time, energy and efforts on continuing to meet the needs of students.

Board members at the Monday Fayette board meeting paid tribute to the late Superintendent Manny Caulk, who died Dec. 4 while on temporary medical leave after a brief illness that officials have not identified.

Board chair Stephanie Spires said, “This man gave his all. He worked until the last moment.”

Spires said her last conversation with Caulk before his health took a turn for the worse was about the return to in-person learning.

“He wanted to get our babies back into the classroom,” Spires said.

Spires said the district will continue the work of Caulk, who district officials described as a catalyst for equity. Caulk pushed for the reforms needed to ensure that demography does not determine a child’s destiny, officials have said.

Spires said the board would start a search for a new superintendent in 2021.

Monday marked the final meeting for board members Daryl Love and Ray Daniels, who did not seek re-election in 2020.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 7:53 PM.