LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Oldham County Board of Education will be asked to move the 2020-21 starting date for Oldham County Schools from Aug. 12 to Aug. 24, according to a districtwide letter from Superintendent Greg Schultz.
The letter, obtained Wednesday by WDRB News, indicates that the school board will be asked to delay the first day of school during a meeting Friday.
Schultz wrote that pushing back the district's reopening date will provide additional time to fill teaching vacancies, receive orders of cleaning supplies and monitor the progress of COVID-19.
Health officials have identified 413 COVID-19 cases in Oldham County since the pandemic began, 10th among Kentucky counties.
"This is not an easy recommendation to make, but it is a necessary effort to ensure we open schools as safely as possible," Schultz wrote in the letter.
"At this time, it is my intention to still open for in-person instruction on August 24, but as everyone knows, this is a fluid situation that can change rapidly."
Two Kentucky school districts, Jefferson County Public Schools and Franklin County Schools, have announced plans to start the 2020-21 school year with nontraditional instruction because of health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Jefferson County Board of Education also voted Tuesday to delay the start of the JCPS school year until Aug. 25.
Schultz wrote that the Oldham County Board of Education will also hear a proposal Friday to alter opening and closing times for middle and high schools so they can operate from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The board will vote on that change at a meeting Monday, according to the letter.
Shifting those times will "allow for intense cleaning of buses between elementary and secondary level runs," Schultz wrote.
OCS is planning to offer in-person and virtual learning options for its students.
For those who return to school, public health guidance such as social distancing and frequent sanitation will be followed. The district will also require students, staff and visitors to wear masks when they can't adequately distance.
The district initially indicated that it would not conduct temperature screenings on all students entering buildings, instead proposing to check about 20% of students for fevers.
OCS spokesperson Heather Peters said Friday that checking all students for fevers would not capture those who have COVID-19 but are asymptomatic or have symptoms other than elevated temperatures.
Peters said the district would "act like everyone has COVID-19" and enforce public health guidance in schools.
"Students who are asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, taking fever-reducers, or exhibiting symptoms other than fever, will not be identified by taking their temperatures upon entry to school," Peters wrote in an email to WDRB News.
"These students will continue to attend classes and ride buses home. Students and staff may assume that they're 'safe' because everyone 'passed' the temperature check. This is not the type of complacent atmosphere we want to create in our schools."
However, the district has reversed course on that aspect of its reopening plan and will now take every student's temperature upon entry at schools.
Toni Konz Tatman, interim communications director for the Kentucky Department of Education, said the state contacted OCS about its reopening plan after receiving complaints from "concerned parents."
"The district and the local health department were confused about the requirement of taking the temperatures of all students," she said in a statement. "The confusion has been cleared up and Oldham County will be taking the temperatures of all students."
During an appearance on Kentucky Tonight, Schultz said Monday there was "a little bit of misunderstanding" about how districts should screen students at the start of school.
"I didn't necessarily think that we were going to catch everybody because even though you're testing at 100%, you're only doing it at one point in the day, and so we suggested a 20% randomized testing," Schultz said, noting students will be expected to have their temperatures taken at home before leaving for school.
"I have since been told that that is not something that I have local control over, so we will be following at this point the state guidance on that," he said.
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