Name: Kentucky teachers union says COVID-19 positivity rate too high to resume in-person classes
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Kentucky teachers union says COVID-19 positivity rate too high to resume in-person classes

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Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsKentucky's teachers union said Friday that the state's public schools should not resume in-person instruction until COVID-19 positivity rates at the state and county levels fall and remain below 4%."By every objective measure, and without public schools being open at all during the last few months, the coronavirus situation in Kentucky at this moment is far worse than it was in March," the Kentucky Education Association said Friday in a statement. "If we all believed it wasn't safe to operate schools then, how can it possibly be safe to reopen now?"&nbsp;KEA said schools should not resume&nbsp;in-person instruction until, "at the minimum," the infection rate for both the state and the county in which a school district is located "fall below 4% and both remain below 4% for 21 consecutive days as measured by a 7-day rolling average."&nbsp;"Districts must also consider other factors unique to their own communities," KEA said, "such as the infection rate among school-aged children and whether the Department of Public Health supports their reopening plan.""Doing anything else is simply irresponsible," the teachers union added. that Kentucky's positivity rate for COVID-19 tests was 5.57%.&nbsp;See also:The state's positivity rate hasn't been lower than 4% in several weeks.&nbsp;In response to KEA's statement, Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley said the governor's office has "been in close communication with the KEA and its members.""This is an education first administration that recognizes and understands the concerns of our hardworking educators, and would never advocate for them to be put in harm’s way," Staley said.&nbsp;"Next week, we will be providing additional commentary on how and when we believe it will be safe to resume in-person classes."At the federal level, public health authorities have recommended communities maintain COVID-19 positivity rates below 5% in order to safely reopen schools and businesses.KEA, whose membership includes 42,000 educators, said even if the positivity rate benchmarks are met, districts that resume in-person classes "must implement appropriate, comprehensive mitigation procedures."Schools also&nbsp;"must continue to offer virtual instruction to families that request it, must accommodate staff members who are at high risk or who live with a person at high risk&nbsp;and must be ready to return entirely to virtual instruction if the state or county metrics require it," the education association continued."Unfortunately, this will be the reality of public education and of our economy until there is an effective vaccine or reliable treatment for COVID-19, or both," KEA said.&nbsp;"And no one can predict just when that might be."Kentucky's 171 school districts have adopted various reopening plans for the fall.Pollio:Some have decided on resuming in-person instruction while also offering students to enroll in online learning if they do not feel comfortable with returning to the classroom.Others have decided on a "hybrid" mix that features alternating&nbsp;days of in-person learning and virtual instruction.A third option, which the state's two largest districts in Jefferson and Fayette counties have adopted, is a , or NTI, model that involves only remote learning and no in-person classes&nbsp;for the start of the fall.Kelly Foster, a Kentucky Department of Education associate commissioner, said during a state Board of Education meeting on Thursday that a recent survey on reopening plans received responses from 144 school districts.Three-quarters of the respondents, or 109 districts, indicated they are reopening with the "blended" model in which students can enroll in&nbsp;virtual or in-person instruction.Foster said 26 districts indicated they will only have virtual learning to start the year, and nine districts said they are using the "hybrid" or "A/B" model for classes each week.In late July, Beshear said he was until at least the third week of August."I'm making the recommendation, even though I know my kids would be receiving a better education if their mom and I weren't&nbsp;trying to teach them the math," Beshear said at the time. "And I'm making that recommendation&nbsp;because I care about my kids. I care about yours. I care about their teachers and administrators, and I believe everybody deserves a safe environment."Pandemic pods?&nbsp;Beshear said Thursday he'd like to see Kentucky's positivity rate much lower — potentially lower than 4% —&nbsp;before also easing up on a&nbsp;statewide mask mandate.The mask mandate was set to expire Saturday, butKentucky's schools were forced to close in March after the Bluegrass State saw its first cases of the novel coronavirus.On Friday, Beshear said the state&nbsp;had&nbsp;, bringing its total case count to 33,796 and fatality count to 764.Twenty-one of the newly reported cases Friday were children&nbsp;5&nbsp;years old and younger, continuing a troubling trend of younger Kentuckians contracting COVID-19,&nbsp;Beshear said.Across the Ohio River in Southern Indiana, numerous school districts resumed in-person classes in late July and early August, and they have seen KEA said in its statement&nbsp;that Beshear's "swift and decisive" action from March through May helped put Kentucky "among the states doing the best job of controlling the virus."Related:But cases have started to rise since then due to holiday travel and gatherings that went against government recommendations, KEA said."Kentucky is now a state that other U.S. citizens are being warned away from," KEA said.The union urged superintendents and schools to start the 2020-21 school year virtually."We applaud and fully support the many school districts that have already made the right decision and hope that others will follow those examples of leadership during challenging times," KEA said.&nbsp;"But there is no more time to waste: making this decision now allows educators to plan and develop meaningful online instruction and gives parents the time they need to prepare."Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com. 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Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsKentucky's teachers union said Friday that the state's public schools should not resume in-person instruction until COVID-19 positivity rates at the state and county levels fall and remain below 4%."By every objective measure, and without public schools being open at all during the last few months, the coronavirus situation in Kentucky at this moment is far worse than it was in March," the Kentucky Education Association said Friday in a statement. "If we all believed it wasn't safe to operate schools then, how can it possibly be safe to reopen...

Kentucky teachers union says COVID-19 positivity rate too high to resume in-person classes

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