JCPS, Louisville area schools to close for 3 weeks starting Monday amid COVID-19 outbreak

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools, Anchorage Independent and many Louisville private schools will be closed from Monday through April 3 to help contain the spread of COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus.

JCPS will resume classes April 6, JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said during a news conference Thursday. The district will continue to monitor the coronavirus spread, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, to determine whether the closure should continue, he said.

"We know times like this decisions are very difficult," Pollio said. "We've wanted to keep school open as long as we possibly can to provide services for our kids who need them so often at our schools."

"We know it's a challenging time in our community," he added. "To be out several weeks in the spring is not easy for our students and our families, but once again our goal is to keep our students safe while also providing them an opportunity for learning and the services that they need, such as lunches."

The announcements came moments after after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who has declared a state of emergency, recommended that all public and private schools close for at least two weeks to protect from the spread of COVID-19.

Youth don't seem to demonstrate symptoms of the coronavirus, but Beshear said they can carry and transmit the virus to others. Closing schools, he said, will limit "community spread" of COVID-19.

"This is a necessary step, and it's one, again, that should not evoke fear," Beshear said during a separate press conference at the Capitol. "We are going to get through this."

Beshear also confirmed that another Jefferson County resident, a Humana employee, tested positive for coronavirus, bringing Louisville's total cases to two.

JCPS, Anchorage Independent, Louisville Catholic schools, Christian Academy of Louisville, Kentucky Country Day and Louisville Collegiate School will all have three weeks off since spring break for all of the area school systems are scheduled for March 30 through April 3.

At JCPS, nine days will be considered the same as snow days. The Kentucky Department of Education is seeking a waiver from the state education board for a waiver to open its non-traditional instruction program to new particiapnts for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and state lawmakers are considering expanding the program from 10 days to 30 days as schools close for the coronavirus outbreak.

JCPS will draft an alternative instruction plan and fill out an application to join the NTI program, but Pollio said he was unsure whether the district would submit it, citing concerns about students who lack access to digital resources from home.

"Clearly right now we don't have the infrastructure to provide a Chromebook or a laptop or an iPad for every student in the district, nowhere near that," he said, nothing that many students also can't connect to the internet from home.

"That's going to be the most challenging part for us, and that's why we prefer not to use (NTI)," he said.

Pollio said the final day of school will be June 10 unless state legislators decide to forgive the absences caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Whether lawmakers will grant that request remains to be seen. Pollio said discussions on the matter with Beshear and legislators have been "good."

The real concern, he said, "is how long this could go."

"What we don't want to do is, clearly, have our students into late June and into July, not having graduations, not knowing when the end of school is," Pollio said. "So we're going to need some support from lawmakers."

The district said if parents have concerns about sending children to school Friday, it will be counted as an excused absence. Still, Pollio urged students to attend Friday to collect copies of learning materials as JCPS closes for three weeks.

Those resources will also be available in students' digital backpacks and on the district's website, www.jefferson.kyschools.us.

Teachers and staff will be asked to follow the district's inclement weather schedule through March 26, Pollio said, noting that district buildings and buses will be santized during the break.

He said he was unaware of any JCPS employee who had been quarantined as a personal precaution or on the advice of a medical professional.

JCPS has also canceled all activities and field trips starting Friday.

During the absences, free lunches will be served at 35 schools throughout the city. See a full list of those sites here.

Earlier Thursday, Beshear announced there are two more positive cases in Kentucky, one in Jefferson County and one in Fayette County. Later, the governor said an additional Harrison County resident tested positive.

That brings Kentucky's COVID-19 total to 11:

Harrison County -- 6
Fayette County -- 3
Jefferson County -- 2

The new positive case in Jefferson County is the one confirmed by Humana on Thursday morning as one of its employees.

The move comes after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on Wednesday, expressing increasing alarm about mounting infections. More than 133,000 people have been infected worldwide, and more than 4,900 have died.

Beshear had previously recommended that schools be prepared to close with as little as 72 hours notice if necessary.

Only Harrison County Schools, a district of fewer than 3,000 students, has been closed this week as the first positive COVID-19 cases in Kentucky were confirmed in that area.

Six Harrison County residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the most in the state as of Thursday.

Owen County Schools called classes off Thursday after an employee, who does not live in Owen County, may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Other Kentucky school districts have announced plans to close for lengthy periods amid the pandemic, including Fayette County Public Schools, Hardin County Schools, Oldham County Schools, Bullitt County Public Schools, Elizabethtown Independent, Boone County Schools, Boyle County Schools and Danville Independent Schools.

States like Ohio and Georgia have also called on schools to close their buildings amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said Thursday that school corporations should prepare for broad closures due to the novel coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that it would offer one-year waivers for standardized testing and accountability determinations for schools and districts. School districts are also required to provide special education services to the extent that they can if they close due to the novel coronavirus.

"Due to the unique circumstances that may arise as a result of COVID-19, such as a school closing during the entire testing window, it may not be feasible for a State to administer some or all of its assessments, in which case the Department would consider a targeted one-year waiver of the assessment requirements for those schools impacted by the extraordinary circumstances," the agency wrote in its advisory.

"States with schools that must close due to the COVID-19 may also want to consider whether it is possible to adjust or extend the testing window to accommodate as many students as possible, including students in schools that were closed for some period."

Beshear held a conference call with Kentucky school superintendents Wednesday in coordination with the KDE, which is allowing districts to apply for the state's non-traditional instruction program for the rest of the 2019-20 school year.

Andy Beshear Newser - 3-12-20 — Gov. Andy Beshear provides an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in Kentucky on March 12, 2020. The first-term governor has given daily briefings since the novel coronavirus struck the state.

That program allows students to learn remotely and gives schools 10 emergency days for such instruction. Kentucky lawmakers are considering emergency legislation that would double the amount of NTI days available for school districts.

Eighty-three of the state's 172 school districts participate in the program, including Harrison County Schools. Kevin Brown, interim education commissioner, said during Thursday's news conference that more than 20 school districts have inquired about the program in recent days, and he expects interest will grow in the coming days.

Joining the NTI program "is not required," he said, "but it is strongly recommended."

Brown said he would give superintendents further guidance on Beshear's recommended school closures Friday.

Beshear has also recommended that weekend church services be canceled with eight cases statewide and more expected to come. Kentucky's General Assembly has postponed its next legislative day in the 60-day session until Tuesday.

Also Wednesday morning, a second and third person who attended a conference at Louisville's downtown Omni Hotel last month tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth said in a statement Wednesday that the Rev. Dr. Robert Pace, who had been in Louisville in February, has the first presumptive positive case of the virus in Tarrant County, Texas.

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