Teacher, staff shortages shut down 3 more Ky. school districts; 38 districts have closed

A substitute teacher shortage is a key reason the Barbourville Independent School District closed Tuesday through Friday, a district official said.

As of Tuesday night, at least 38 Kentucky school districts had closed for various time periods as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff shortages or both.

From Sept. 7 to Sept. 10, students in the Barbourville district will learn from home.

All teachers will be available 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to help students daily, a district social media statement said. Brian Carey, principal of the Barbourville Independent schools and district director of pupil personnel, said he did not immediately know whether non-traditional instruction days would be used.

Current state law allows ten NTI days to be used this school year. A special session of the General Assembly convened Tuesday after school districts asked for state legislation to address problems caused by surging coronavirus cases.

Carey said Tuesday that teachers are either in quarantine due to the coronavirus or their children are in quarantine. One teacher in the district of 640 students is positive, he said.

Last Friday, after a decision was made to close classrooms this week, district officials discovered that four or five high school students had tested positive, Carey said.

Two other Kentucky districts closed down Tuesday over staff shortages,

McLean County Schools Superintendent Tommy Burrough told families in a message Tuesday that “right now we are in a situation where I have no choice but to make the decision to close our schools for a few days. “

“Our staff and student COVID positive cases and quarantines have caused us to shut down starting tomorrow,” he said. “ For the next three days (Wednesday through Friday), we will not be in session.”

No learning will take place and make-up days will be used.

“We will not be on NTI virtual learning during the next three days. We will be back in session on Monday and we will reassess to see if our numbers are better,” Burrough said.

Dawson Springs Independent Superintendent Lenny Whalen said in a letter to families Tuesday his district was moving to virtual learning for the rest of the week due to “multiple staff being out in every department at each school.”

The other Kentucky districts that have closed this school year include Bath, Harrison, Perry, Mayfield Independent, Paris Independent, Montgomery County, Marion, Clinton, Rockcastle, Ashland Independent, Spencer, Wolfe, Clay, Berea Independent, Crittenden, Marshall, Russell, Casey, Carter, Franklin, Owsley, Knott, Powell, Pike, Lee, Leslie, Jenkins Independent, Carroll, Greenup, Letcher, Russellville Independent, Fairview Independent, Edmonson, Marion and Magoffin.

Some have offered at-home learning, but many have not, saying the shutdown days would be made up later.

This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 4:37 PM.