With COVID-19 and schools, Kentucky got some things wrong. Now, let’s get it right.
Next year or the one after that, when the books about COVID-19 start getting written, one thing that will be very clear is how wrong we were about schools.
There’s no one to blame; when the pandemic hit, there was more we didn’t know about the virus than we knew. Gov. Beshear’s spring shutdown made sense and saved lives.
By October or November, however, it became clear that with the right precautions and protocols, schools could operate safely, especially at the elementary grades. New research shows that young children are not vectors of disease, but they are being harmed by remote schooling or in the worst cases, no schooling at all.
“We got so many things we got wrong because we didn’t think clearly enough about how important education is to our communities,” said Brian Creasman, Fleming County Schools Superintendent and the 2020 Superintendent of the Year. About half of the district’s 2,100 students are back in person. “We’ve created a system in Kentucky where schools are centers of quarantine and Walmart’s are the centers of spread.”
Part of that was timing. We flattened the curve in early summer, and it would not have been fair to keep local businesses closed until school started again at summer’s end. But clearly, there have been too many mixed messages based on what, expediency? Schools have to be closed, while highs school sports, UK basketball games and historical racing gambling continue. It’s hard to convince people that you believe in in-person school if these are the top priorities.
On Wednesday, Gov. Beshear said he fully expected to allow restaurants to reopen for dine-in service on Dec. 14. Really? What if they stay closed until schools can have in-person learning? How much do we really want this? Are we willing to keep wearing our masks? Republican legislators, who urge a return to school, are apparently not.
At any rate, we can look all around us for where it’s working. In France, cases are starting to rise again, but officials have kept schools open while closing restaurants and bars.
Right now, Michigan, for example is allowing K-8 schools to be in-person, even though the state’s positivity rate is higher than Kentucky’s. In New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio reversed his initial rule that schools could not open if the positivity rate went above 3 percent.
UK used their CARES money to expand testing, and in the end, had a fairly safe and successful semester. Despite numerous quarantines for teachers and students, private schools have also managed in-person school nearly the whole semester.
Of course, any back to school plan requires fluidity and flexibility. Not everyone in New York City is choosing to send their children back to school so classrooms aren’t as crowded; in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has give latitude to districts to decide when they need to be remote given the infection rates in their communities. Teachers and staff at greater risk for COVID-19 should be given a remote option.
Right now, community spread is so high across the state that it probably makes sense to keep everything remote until the New Year. It’s up to us to wear masks, social distance and stay away from holiday parties. But at some point in the New Year, Gov. Beshear, the state health department, the Kentucky Department of Education and school leaders everywhere need to take a fresh look at how we get kids into classrooms.
(By the way, Gov. Beshear, it’s silly to keep private schools closed. They close themselves down when they have too many cases. And then we don’t have to waste time and money by Attorney General Daniel Cameron with nonsensical, grandstanding court cases about “religious freedom.” )
Here at home in Fayette County, the school community is reeling from the tragic death on Friday of Superintendent Manny Caulk, who was an uncompromising warrior on behalf of the children who are least likely to have the tools to navigate remote learning.
The district is supposed to release another plan on Dec. 14, and let’s hope the case numbers can fall enough so the district can figure out a way to at least get elementary students back in regular school in January.
School board chairwoman Stephanie Aschmann Spires said the schools are ready with enough protective equipment, ventilation and transportation contingencies to accommodate students.
“It’s way too early to predict what will happen,” she said. “We need to be ready to get kids back in school, and I think that we as a community has to make that a priority.”
Also on Wednesday, Gov. Beshear implied that as we talk about going back to school, more attention needs to be paid to teachers and the potential dangers they might face. Of course. They need flexibility to teach or stay remote, and they need the testing and equipment that will keep them safe. So far, for example, Fayette County still has $8.4 million in federal CARES Act funding left to spend, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. In addition, teachers should be considered front-line workers and be made a top priority for the vaccines that are on their way.
Vaccines are shedding a light in this long national nightmare, but for most of us, they’re still many months away. That’s why we need our state and local leaders to be as creative and flexible as possible. We have to weigh the risks, and right now, the thought of our youngest children losing yet another semester of school weighs very heavily indeed.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
