Johnson schools delay in-person instruction until Oct. 12

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

Virtual instruction began Tuesday in the Johnson County and Paintsville Independent school districts, with Johnson County announcing that it will not start in-person learning until October.Superintendent Thom Cochran said in a video posted Monday on YouTube that the Johnson County district would begin face-to-face instruction Oct. 12, “even though this is a couple of weeks longer than the governor’s current recommendation and even though I, like you, want nothing more than to have our students back into our school buildings.”Gov. Andy Beshear recommended in August that Kentucky schools wait until at least Sept. 28 to begin in-person classes. Johnson County is the first local district to announce that it would delay classroom instruction beyond that date.Johnson County’s six-week virtual instruction will assist students in transitioning “as smoothly as possible into the new classes, new grades and schools,” Cochran said.“Johnson County will hopefully have a better control on the number of active (COVID-19) cases in our county and, frankly, we will be able to learn from some of the other districts who go back to traditional, face-to-face instruction before us,” Cochran said.Johnson County reported 87 new coronavirus cases in August, according to the most recent information available Tuesday morning. The county has had a total of 125 COVID-19 cases, with 26 active as of Tuesday.With the recommended Sept. 26 date nearing, state officials recommended Monday that masks be worn by all students and staff when schools open for in-person instruction.“The use of cloth face coverings (masks) should be required by all students and staff at all times while in the building or on the bus, unless medically waivered,” updated Healthy at School guidance issued Monday says. “Students and staff should only lower their masks while actively eating or drinking.”The Kentucky Department for Public Health made the recommendation based on the latest information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the updated document.State officials initially issued Healthy at School guidance in June and required that masks be worn while riding on the bus. The guidance also said that students and staff should be required to wear a mask in school buildings but that it could be lowered during classroom time if everyone was seated 6 feet apart and no one is walking around inside the classroom.The guidance on the use of masks was updated with Monday’s new recommendation.The June guidelines include safety expectations that must be implemented at all schools in addition to “best practices” that schools can choose to follow “in order the optimize the safety of students and staff.”As determined by the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the expectations include social distancing; screening, school exclusion and contact tracing; personal protective equipment (PPE), including cloth face masks; and sanitation, environmental and industrial factors.Gov. Andy Beshear recommended in August that the start of in-person instruction be delayed until Sept. 28. The guidance did not affect the start of non-traditional instruction (NTI), which began Aug. 26 in Lawrence and Martin counties and Tuesday in the Johnson County and Paintsville Independent school districts.Floyd County students begin NTI on Sept. 8.