Why doesn’t Frankfort ask local school leaders the best ways to reopen schools?

The American rendezvous with destiny, by dreaming big, being adventurous, and being undeterred by adversity is in jeopardy. Yes, without question, COVID-19 is dangerous and deadly, but what lies ahead once we overcome this global health pandemic is starting to look more detrimental to students than we ever imagined. Right now, as leaders at the state and national levels appear to be paralyzed, local leaders have had to step up to the plate in ways none could have imagined just a few short months ago.

As state and national leaders look for ways to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, schools have become easy targets of criticism and baseless claims that they are superspreaders. In fact, scientists at leading research universities, Brown, John Hopkins, and Duke, just to mention a few, are finding that schools are among the safest places for students and adults. When schools follow protocols established by the CDC and state and local health departments, students, teachers, and staff have relatively low exposure to COVID-19. This is not to say COVID-19 does not exist in schools; but protocols that are vetted and science-based, mitigate the spread and lower the probability of transmission in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Each day, we learn of alarming statistics about how COVID-19 continues to negatively impact minority students, rural students, and students from lower socioeconomic families. Too many state leaders across the nation appear to have a false sense of reality that as COVID-19 closed schools across the nation in March, these students spontaneously developed time-management skills, purchased a device, connected to the internet, and, in many cases, actually found shelter (as many students are homeless) in order to do their school work virtually. State leaders continue to rush to exhaust solutions to a current problem. Yet, we continue to fail to address or recognize the short and long-term effects virtual learning will have on our children, America’s most priceless asset.

Each day we hear about the approximately 2,000 Kentuckians we lost due to COVID-19 or the number of students and staff who are quarantined. Our heart breaks for those families and we pray each day for them as well as for good health and speedy recovery for others. We understand that emotional, physical, and sexual abuse is increasing among school-aged children and academic failure continues to further create an equity gap. I contend we can be empathetic to the health needs of our students, staff, and communities, while also being strategic in our approach to serving all of them through local autonomy if given the flexibility and full support from Frankfort.

In Fleming County Schools, which successfully reopened and remained open for seven and half weeks without a single positive COVID-19 case tied directly to in-person classes, we have not seen or received a call from anyone from the Governor’s Office or the Kentucky Department of Public Health asking if we needed help or how we did it. Leadership requires a boots on the ground approach that many school districts, including Fleming County Schools, have yet to see from the state.

School districts like Fleming, Warren County Schools, and Bowling Green Independent Schools, just to mention a few, have led the way across Kentucky, with the support of teachers, staff, parents, boards of education, local health officials, and the community to offer in-person instruction. There are countless other districts across Kentucky and the nation that have offered a way forward while keeping students, teachers, and staff healthy and safe.

Now, boards of education and superintendents who are trying to lead for the betterment of our students, are being threatened with removal from elected office or stripped of superintendent licensure. This is not leadership. Just as healthcare workers will move boulders to help their patients, educators and board members will do the same to reach our students. This is not about trying to circumvent laws or mandates. It IS about leading in a time of crisis when our communities need us most.

Education is critical to economic recovery, even more so during a global pandemic. We have yet to give education a role in the state’s pandemic response plan or in stabilizing the state and local economies. The state has not made reopening schools a priority. We have known for months what to expect from October through March, as COVID-19 cases and flu cases increase; but Frankfort failed to invest in schools and make sure they could remain open.

In anticipation of schools reopening in the fall, as scientists and physicians were voicing, we should have mobilized an army of contact tracers and opened scalable test sites in all communities that would have aided schools in staying open; but we failed. Schools must be a priority in the state’s vaccination plan so that students can go back to learning and the economy can rebound.

We must empower local leaders to make local decisions that are in the best interest of their communities. We must be allowed to activate plans that have been months in the making, following guidance given by federal and state agencies, and stop getting berated in daily press conferences for not grasping the severity of the situation. More importantly, we have yet to send a message that all students are valued in Kentucky.

Frankfort could change the course of this pandemic by truly collaborating with superintendents and boards of education who have created and communicated a shared vision and robust action plans that are based on the needs of their local communities. Trust must be given back to the local leaders who put the health and safety of students, teachers, and staff first, instead of listening to those in the cheap seats who prefer a timid and status quo approach that fails to keep people safe, reduce the spread of COVID-19, or inspire Kentuckians to overcome adversity and work for the common good.

Brian K. Creasman is Superintendent of the Fleming County Schools and the 2020 Kentucky Superintendent of Year.

This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 9:47 AM.