Fayette is ready for limited in-person school at last. How could snow, ice affect that?

Fayette school district officials will be flexible with students and staff Thursday if power outages result from the expected ice storm, a district spokeswoman said.

However, spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said district officials expect remote learning -- Non-Traditional Instruction: Differentiated Distance Learning (NTI: 2DL)-- to continue on Thursday.

“We recognize that an accumulation of ice could lead to power outages and... internet service disruption and we will be flexible with our students and staff,” she said

“ Please prioritize the health and safety of your family as the weather unfolds, district officials said in a message to families Wednesday. “Any student unable to log-on tomorrow will be given additional time to complete assignments and any teacher unable to connect will provide instruction at a future time.”

District officials are planning on returning kindergarten through second graders to in-person learning on Feb. 16 with other grades gradually returning after that.

However, Deffendall said if weather conditions are unsafe, remote learning could continue that day instead.

“We are aware of forecasts including the possibility of snow for Tuesday, Feb. 16, which is scheduled to be the first day back to in-person learning for our students in grades kindergarten through two. If conditions are unsafe, we will continue with remote learning on that day,’ she said.

On Thursday, Kentucky School Boards Association officials said there are at least 108 districts that are using virtual instruction and at least 29 that are having a traditional snow day.

Several districts that planned to have NTI days quickly switched to a traditional snow day. Montgomery County Schools said the growing number of power outages in the area led the district to declare a traditional snow day Thursday, KSBA officials said.

Lawrence County switched to a snow day after the district reported that there were more than 3,000 power outages in the county. Anderson County also changed to a snow day because of power outages.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 6:19 PM.