LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Jefferson County Public Schools will resume in-person instruction this week, the district announced Sunday.
The largest school district in Kentucky opted to return to in-person learning on Monday, Jan. 24. JCPS last held in-person instruction Jan. 7.
"In the past few days, the number of positive COVID-19 cases among our staff has dropped," JCPS said in a letter to students and parents. "That means fewer JCPS employees will be in quarantine. We believe there are now enough staff members, substitute teachers, bus drivers and other staff available to safely reopen our school buildings."
According to a news release, buses will resume their regular routes in the morning and afternoon, while food service will resume in cafeterias and in-school COVID-19 testing resume for those students who have signed up for it.
"I think the numbers have not looked good enough to make an announcement in advance," Jefferson County Teachers Association President Brent McKim said. "They have tried to wait til Sunday and get the best and most recent numbers to make their decision but it is not ideal for any of us."
JCPS exhausted eight of its 10 allotted nontraditional instruction days over the past two weeks amid a record surge of COVID-19 cases throughout Kentucky that has strained staffing at JCPS and other school districts.
Thousands of district staff and students have been quarantined since classes resumed after Christmas break. Other Kentucky school districts have also used nontraditional instruction days recently as COVID-19 caseloads escalate.
JCTA members are concerned about how many teachers in the district are still sick.
"How many teachers are sick enough that they aren't going to go in person and maybe make other people sick, but might have been able to do NTI from home?" McKim asked.
Lawmakers also provided 10 days for targeted remote learning, allowing districts to close certain schools, grades or classes in response to significant COVID-19 absences through the rest of the 2021-22 school year.
JCPS offers COVID-19 testing for students, staff and families at more than 50 sites around Louisville. The testing sites run from 3 to 7 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday at most locations. To view the list of locations, click here.
To register for a COVID-19 test, click here.
According to the school district's COVID-19 dashboard as of 8 p.m. on Sunday, 1,075 students have tested positive and 634 are in quarantine while 553 staff have tested positive and 112 are in quarantine.
"We know this is a difficult issue for many families but we feel it is important to get students back to in-person instruction with their teachers and classmates," JCPS states in the letter. "We will continue to monitor the numbers daily to ensure that we can continue in-person instruction."
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