Beshear: No more state guidance prior to Sept. 28 school opening

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

FRANKFORT — Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday he would not provide any further guidance to school districts in Kentucky about in-person instruction prior to Sept. 28, which is the first day the state will allow students to return to classrooms.“Let me be clear that there is not going to be an overall recommendation coming from me or my office post Sept. 28,” Beshear said. “What’s going to be provided is the information to make a week-by-week decision in our various school districts and counties based on prevalence and what public health experts believe is the right course based on that prevalence.”Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said Monday that school districts across the state have requested local control.“They have asked us to give them a metric to decide,” Stack said. “This tool provides the metric and public health guidance attached to it.”He said the guidance is in effect as long as the state’s positivity rate is less than 6 percent and the health care system has enough resources. A color-coded map showing incidence rates will provide districts with corresponding guidance. It will be updated every Thursday evening to guide schools for the following week.Schools in green and yellow areas essentially follow KDE Healthy at Schools guidance. Schools in an orange zone should take enhanced measures, including more aggressive crowd limits, and should consider a variety of factors to determine what mode of instruction they should use.If a county reaches red, then both in person instruction should be suspended the following week and only remote learning should occur; schools may still use small groups per KDE guidance for special circumstances.“Once a county reaches red, it should return to yellow before resuming in person instruction to allow for disease activity to return to a safer level and to increase the probability of successfully staying open for in person instruction upon reopening,” Stack said.Stack also announced that an emergency regulation addressing K-12 COVID-19 reporting requirements pursuant to existing statutes was filed Monday.Under the new regulation, no later than Monday, Sept. 28, all parents and guardians are required to report to the child’s school within 24 hours if their child tests positive for COVID-19, and all schools must report via a secure website, Monday through Friday, every day school is in session, data related to the coronavirus.He said the Kentucky Department of Education is sending instructions to schools on how to register with the online portal and report this data.“Using this data, KDPH will publish an online dashboard,” Stack said. “The dashboard link will be posted on or before Monday, Sept. 28, on the kycovid19.ky.gov website.“Publicly reporting this data is a necessary tool to enable students, parents and communities to make informed decisions COVID-19 risk in collaboration with the education and public health communities,” Dr. Stack said.Stack said KDPH still will publish its K-12 public health reports, also available on the kycovid19.ky.gov website.