KY schools don’t have to offer virtual work if teachers refuse vaccine, new guidance says

Kentucky school districts are not required to offer alternative or virtual work assignments to employees who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to new guidance released Monday by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Kentucky school employees have been offered the vaccine for the past several weeks and more than 80,000 have said they will take it.

Under a state executive order, school districts must provide an alternative or virtual work assignment to any employee who requests accommodation and meets the criteria for a high risk individual developed by the Food and Drug Administration, such as obesity, age and certain chronic diseases.

The requirement to offer accommodations extends until the eligible employee is at least seven calendar days past getting their final vaccination dose.

However, new guidance released Monday said “districts are not required to extend accommodations to employees who refuse to take the vaccine. “

Allison Slone, a teacher who moderates a prominent Facebook group called Kentucky Teachers in the Know and is also a Kentucky Board of Education member, said in response Monday that it’s her understanding that teachers who can’t take the vaccine for medical reasons would still get the alternative accommodations.

Toni Konz Tatman, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, confirmed that those employees would continue to get the accommodations.

Slone said the more school employees that choose to get the vaccination, the safer it is for everyone including those who can’t take the vaccine for medical reasons.

“Our districts have had to make many difficult decisions over the past several months and will continue to do so including having enough adults in our buildings to cover classes while some have to quarantine,” said Slone.”. ..Our teachers have had to make a ton of sacrifices and difficult decisions based on what’s best for them, their families, and careers. I respect their ability and right to do so as professionals.”

“I am grateful that our school employees have the choice to take or not to take the vaccine for whatever reason they so choose and I also look forward to getting our children back to in person instruction as quickly as possible in a way that keeps everyone as safe as possible,” she said.

Tatman said that some local districts may decide to let staff without medical exemptions who don’t get vaccinated continue to work remotely.

David Patterson, a spokesman for the teacher’s group the Kentucky Education Association, said the districts have an interest in keeping as many staff as possible as healthy as possible.

“Because students will still have the option for virtual learning, it seems reasonable that school administrators would try to accommodate staff requests to continue to perform their jobs remotely, if circumstances allow,” he said.

Fayette County Public Schools officials on Monday night said in a statement that the district is committed to working with each employee to ensure appropriate accommodations are made in accordance with federal and state requirements.

Fayette school officials will confirm Tuesday whether they still intend to start a phased-in return to in-person learning on Feb. 16, beginning with kindergarten through second grade students.

Districts should continue to maintain strict quarantine procedures even after the faculty and staff have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, the new guidance document said.

While widespread vaccination is likely to expedite the return to normalcy, the exponential spread of the COVID-19 virus and new variants will remain a threat to communities for many months, according to the new guidance.

Even after fully vaccinating faculty and staff, the state guidance says schools must carefully consider the way they operate in-person schooling. The vaccination against COVID-19 prevents severe illness but does not prevent against infection or limit the ability of an individual to spread the disease. Students currently are ineligible to receive the vaccination since it has not been approved for use in children, and remain at risk for COVID-19. Infected students also may spread COVID-19 to family members who have not yet been vaccinated, leading to increased community spread, the guidance said.

Schools will have to continue social distancing, wearing cloth face coverings and personal protective equipment, screening for symptoms, and paying attention to sanitation and contact tracing.

From an academic standpoint, educators will need to continually determine whether students have knowledge gaps and design effective instruction and intervention during the COVID-19 emergency and afterwards, Kentucky Department of Education officials said.

Schools and districts should have systems in place for early identification of students who are chronically absent or who may be at risk of failing, state officials said.

Fayette officials have not released recent data on students at risk of retention or who are failing since schools shutdown to in-person learning in March. However at a January meeting, Fayette Chief Academic Officer Kate McAnelly said most students who are supposed to participate in remote learning are doing so. For the few students who aren’t participating in remote learning, teachers will have special diagnostic tests to evaluate them when they do return to in-person learning, she has said.

Local school districts are being encouraged to analyze student data to look for root causes of absenteeism and barriers to attendance or learning and then intervene prior to retaining kids.

Schools will have to be innovative this spring to avoid the need for retention, state officials said. State education officials are asking schools how they are identifying and helping students who are behind.

“What steps can be taken in the spring to support students who may be at risk of being retained,” the new guidance document asked. “ If students are not retained, what system will be in place in the fall of 2021 to support successful student transition?’’

This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 4:44 PM.