LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Terrilyn Fleming, like other teachers who are immunocompromised, is anxiously waiting for her school district to formalize reopening plans for the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Fleming, who teaches theatre classes for kindergarteners through seniors at the J. Graham Brown School, has common variable immunodeficiency, which leaves her susceptible to various infections and has her worried about contracting COVID-19 when she returns to her classroom.
“Most of the public is not aware that there really are students, faculty and staff who are sick,” she said. “... I understand people are not used to wearing masks, but it really is life and death for people like me have immunodeficiencies.”
Fleming, who also serves on boards for the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association, says she’s not alone in her safety concerns. In her opinion, she would rather Jefferson County Public Schools start the school year with virtual instruction rather than resuming in-person classes in the midst of a global pandemic.
“I would say more teachers than not don’t want to begin school even with masks, because masks are great, but when you think about it, you go to the store, and 60% of the people aren’t wearing masks,” she said, adding that such people “are modeling for their children.”
“When they come to school and they don’t wear a mask and they’re not going to be punished for not wearing a mask, we have a problem,” she said.
JCPS and school districts throughout Kentucky are drafting their plans to reopen for the 2020-21 school year after all of them transitioned to nontraditional instruction in the waning months of the 2019-20 year. Schools ceased in-person learning at the behest of Gov. Andy Beshear in March as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kentucky.
Eva Stone, manager of district health services for JCPS, said many feel “anxiety about coming back to school because this is new for everybody.” The district is working on a virtual learning option for families with medically fragile children and exploring remote work options for staff with health conditions.
“We all have concerns,” she said. “We need to listen to the guidance. We really need to adhere to the guidance. We really need to promote the practices that will help keep us all from being sick.”
Masks have become a divisive, partisan issue across the U.S. despite public health guidance that wearing them can help limit the spread of COVID-19, particularly for those who are unknowingly infected.
Kentucky’s “Healthy at School” guidance released last week said districts should require students to wear masks starting in first grade unless social distancing could be maintained in classrooms. Students with medical waivers would be exempt from covering their faces on buses and in school buildings.
State officials had previously said districts should not punish students who refuse to wear masks but rather take other steps to get them to comply and model best practices, something JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said he planned to follow during a press conference last week. The district plans to spend nearly $12.3 million on disposable masks for students with a share of its federal COVID-19 relief funding.
“The state has been clear with superintendents that this should not be a punitive measure, which clearly makes it a challenge when we need students to wear masks for safety,” he said last week.
“As kids come back, we will talk to them about wearing masks,” Stone said. “… We’ll have information available for parents, and we will ask that they help to encourage this behavior in their children at home.”
But Todd Allen, the Kentucky Department of Education’s interim general counsel, said during a superintendents’ webcast Tuesday that disciplinary measures could be enacted “if the school district simply can’t gain compliance with that expectation.”
“I would think that they would start at the bottom first to ensure that the student has the mask, communication with the student, communication with the parent, and I think that they’re going to find that in that situation, most students are going to comply,” Allen said during a question-and-answer session about transporting students who refuse to wear masks on buses.
Although she won’t feel completely comfortable until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, Fleming supports making masks mandatory for everyone inside schools “whether they’re students or faculty or staff.”
“The problem is it’s just not going to happen in reality,” she said.
Fleming says her classroom has no windows and, based on a school safety law passed last year, she can’t teach with her door open. The makes her even more uncomfortable teaching classes full of students who may or may not be wearing masks.
She believes her older students will be able to maintain social distancing, but younger kids may be a different story.
“For the little kids, I think it would be a nightmare,” Fleming said. “I have numbers painted on the floor where they sit and they have trouble sitting on those.”
Even if her classes can maintain social distancing, Fleming says she won’t be comfortable if her students are unmasked while she teaches.
Still, she believes most will respect her concerns if she explains them and how COVID-19 impacts those with compromised immune systems.
“But there are going to be those who hear from their parents or grandparents or whoever, ‘Oh we don’t need to wear masks. It’s just you being a sheep,’” Fleming said. “They don’t see a reason for it. Those are the healthy people who feel that way.”
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