Coach dies from COVID, 400 kids quarantined. KY district closes with no remote learning.

With the death Wednesday of a beloved assistant football coach from COVID-19 complications and 400 students in quarantine, the Greenup County Superintendent has shut down schools for the rest of the week with no virtual learning.

“The number of students and staff who are positive and or quarantined has greatly impacted our ability to operate buses, kitchens and maintain classroom staffing,” Traysea Moresea said in a message to families.

She told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday night that it was her understanding that Jamie Kennedy, an assistant football coach and health teacher at Greenup County High School, died from complications of COVID-19 earlier in the day.

Moresea said she learned on Friday that Kennedy was quarantined because of the coronavirus.

“He was a very good man,” Moresea said. She said he had previously coached football at Johnson Central High School in Paintsville.

“He had a knack for noticing students who needed a little extra help and making sure that counselors knew that kids needed help. He was a very good communicator and really rooted for the underdog,” she said.

“The next two days will be used for our staff to regroup, make long term plans and thoroughly clean our facilities,” Moresea said in a message to families.

Moresea said she is closing schools Thursday and Friday with no instruction. The days will be added to the end of the school year calendar.

She said counselors and mental health providers will be at Greenup County High School over the next two days to help students and staff in dealing with the death.

At least six other school districts in Kentucky have closed for various time periods this school year, several with no virtual learning.

A new state law passed by the General Assembly in 2021 only gives school districts 10 days of non-traditional instruction that they don’t have to make up. The law was intended to avoid the months of remote learning that Kentucky experienced during the pandemic that began in March 2020. Last school year, districts had unlimited at-home learning.

While state and education officials say they are committed to in-person learning, several superintendents say the recent surge of the coronavirus left them no choice but to close.

Moresea said she wanted to give students and staff a chance to grieve and “to understand the complications of what COVID is causing everyone.”

“We have 2,700 students and ... we have 400 quarantined from the elementary level all the way to high school,” said Moresea. She said staff are also quarantined.

“It is very difficult to run a school safely if you do not have the correct amount of staff to take care of them,” she said.

Moresea said with the level of COVID cases in the state, Kentucky schools would benefit from a hybrid plan that would allow for more NTI days and have half of the students in the classroom and half learning virtually. That way, fewer students would be in quarantine.

This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 10:05 PM.