Lawsuit could force Fayette schools to offer all kids in-person learning with no delay

A lawsuit filed by parents against Boone County Schools to force that district to offer full-time in-person learning is asking for a statewide order to require the same of Fayette County and all other Kentucky school districts.

“It would apply to Fayette, it would apply to Jefferson, it would apply everywhere,” Northern Kentucky attorney Chris Wiest, who is representing the families, said Wednesday morning. “I have a lawsuit against Fayette ready to go, but if the Boone case gets the kids back to school I won’t file” in Fayette.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday night, Wiest is asking that Boone Circuit Court certify the case as a class action lawsuit affecting all of Kentucky. The arguments and issues are the same in every school district in the state, Wiest said. The lawsuit said that millions of Kentucky parents have been affected and more than 80 school boards and superintendents are involved in decisions not to return to in-person learning.

Wiest said while the lawsuit is asking that schools be required to offer in-person full time instruction as he maintains state law requires, it is not asking for damages.

“We fully support the lawsuit and stand ready if we are needed in any way,” Greg Prince, a leader in the group Let Them Learn in Fayette County, said Wednesday in response to the possibility of a lawsuit in Fayette County.

Members of that Facebook group have been pushing for an in-person return for months. Other parents have encouraged Fayette school board members not to return to face-to-face instruction until COVID-19 cases have dropped.

Fayette school district officials did not immediately comment Wednesday.

Acting Fayette Superintendent Marlene Helm announced Tuesday that Fayette County Schools, which has largely had remote learning since COVID-19 shut down schools in March 2020, planned to start a phased-in return, starting with students in kindergarten through second grade on Feb. 16.

The decision will be reviewed on Feb. 9. District officials have previously said that high COVID-19 case numbers made it unsafe to put kids back in classrooms. Those cases have been trending down in recent days.

After kindergarten, first- and second-grade students return in person, grades 3 through 5, 6, 9 and 12 will be next, followed by grades 7, 8, 10 and 11. Preschool students will be the final group to go back to school buildings under a district plan.

Wiest said that plan does not offer enough soon enough.

“Unless they are offering to get the kids back, offering in-person classroom opportunities for every child in the district K-12, it’s not sufficient to allay our concerns,” Wiest said. “We think they are required today to have the kids in school.”

Parents who wanted to continue learning from home or have their children engage in a hybrid of in-person and at-home learning, could still do that if the lawsuit were successful, Wiest said: “We’re not trying to stop those type of parent choices.”