LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Jefferson County Public Schools plans to have a nurse at every school if classrooms reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, district leaders told the Jefferson County Board of Education on Tuesday.
Assistant superintendents and eight principals presented details of reopening strategies during Tuesday’s work session as the board prepares to decide whether to resume in-person instruction.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio, who has previously expressed confidence that classrooms will reopen for students and staff this school year, told board members that the district’s complete reopening plan will be presented at a Feb. 16 meeting and that a special meeting may be called for a vote on his recommendation “if that is the way the board will go.”
Pollio said based on the current vaccination schedule, the district could begin a staggered reopening starting with elementary schools in mid-March with the board’s approval. He has previously suggested that elementary schools would resume in-person instruction for students five days per week while middle and high schools operate on hybrid schedules as part of the district’s reopening strategy.
Operations at JCPS will be vastly different during the COVID-19 pandemic as school districts are expected to implement measures like social distancing, masking and temperature screenings inside schools. State and local health officials previously told the board that JCPS could safely resume in-person instruction with a combination of staff vaccinations and mitigation measures taken inside schools.
“If you choose to return to in-person class, contact tracing and quarantining will be a reality for the rest of this year at a minimum, and who knows what next year will bring,” Pollio said.
The district currently has 64 school nurses and six nurse practitioners on staff and is working with six recruiters to bring 90 more nurses to work in schools and help with contact tracing, said Eva Stone, the district’s health services director.
“That company is confident they can get those,” Pollio said. “… Our goal is by the first day to have a medical professional in every school.”
The hiring push at JCPS extends beyond school nurses with a potential return to in-person instruction on the horizon. Chris Perkins, the district’s chief operations officer, said JCPS is considering contracting extra custodial services and shifting work hours for those currently on staff to help with daily sanitation at schools.
Those are just two of many issues discussed at Tuesday’s work session, which presented the board with its first opportunity to review and question JCPS reopening plans with school-level personnel who will be tasked with implementing them.
“I think we have the capability to do this safely in the time that is allotted to us,” Iroquois High School Principal Rob Fulk said. “It is a very big lift. It is very difficult. However, this is something we have been preparing for for quite some time.”
Kentucky’s “Healthy at School” guidelines call for students to wear face coverings while in school unless they’re eating and drinking. Asked about how JCPS staff will enforce masking requirements inside buildings once in-person instruction resumes, Assistant Superintendent of Culture and Climate Katy DeFerrari said staff will first work to resolve any issues with students who do not wear masks “in a respectful and calm way.”
Outright refusal by students to wear masks, however, “will be perceived as a high-level situation that needs to be addressed immediately,” she said. Students could ultimately be forced into the district’s virtual academy in such instances, she said.
“That becomes a safety issue,” DeFerrari said. “Now it doesn’t have to be permanent, meaning if schools are going to refer students home in the virtual academy, they will have input on a plan for that student, how long they’re suggesting the student would be out and all of those types of things.”
Social distancing inside classrooms was another topic of interest for board members. JCPS expects about 60% of its more than 96,000 students will return to classrooms once they reopen, but reducing class sizes may pose problems for the district as it offers two modes of instruction.
Anyone who holds a teaching certification could be tapped to lead a classroom once in-person instruction resumes at JCPS, Pollio said.
“When people ask why were central office personnel vaccinated, that’s why,” he said. “… We are actively working on all adults being a part to support this work, especially in the early times, the first few weeks.”
Schools are making similar staffing decisions. Gutermuth Elementary School Principal Laura Mullaney said her school will assign one of its special area teachers with a teaching certificate to a fifth-grade class because more fifth-grade students are expected to return for classes rather than continue learning from home at Gutermuth.
“I have had to repurpose and reuse,” Mullaney said.
St. Matthews Elementary Principal Scott Collier said classrooms in his school can fit about 18 students inside with 6 feet of social distance. Students may have to shift between teachers to keep class sizes smaller, he said.
“When I ran my numbers, it was right around 15 to 18 kids per class, so it’s working out right now and hopefully it stays that way,” Collier said. “We’ll just have to readjust if it doesn’t.”
Board members also questioned the district’s transportation plan, which requires students to wear masks while on buses but does not limit capacities.
Chris Kolb, the board’s vice chairperson who represents District 2, said some buses would likely run at full capacity with three students per seat, which he referred to as “social squashing.”
“The bounds of physical reality have led that to be the situation if we want to do in-person instruction, so that’s something that families are going to have to weigh,” he said.
JCPS bus drivers will be tasked with not only transporting students to and from schools, but also identifying students who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms as they board buses. State guidance calls for districts to designate bus seats for students with COVID-19 symptoms, preferably toward the front of the bus.
“We don’t think that’s an undue expectation on bus drivers and on students?” asked board member Corrie Shull, who represents District 6.
“It’s the state guidelines,” Stone said. “Drivers are going to be trained on what to look for. … Drivers can’t, per the guidelines, check temperatures as students are boarding the bus.”
Board member Joe Marshall, who represents District 4, challenged district leaders to continue exploring possibilities to safely resume in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Just because the state says we ought to do it this way doesn’t mean that that works for us,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way that gets our kids back in the building in a safe way to get them what they need, but not a rush job that’s going to cause more problems than it’s worth.”
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