LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Since schools returned to instruction earlier this fall, many school districts have had to switch between in-person and virtual learning several times.
Just Thursday, LaRue County announced it was moving back to complete virtual learning for the second time because of its county status.
The district said it relies largely on the state's COVID-19 Incidence Rate Map, which labels each county either yellow, orange or red. It's categorized by how many current COVID-19 cases there are per 100,000 people in the county.
LaRue County is now in the red category.
“If we’re in red, we make a decision Thursday night that we’re going to go NTI, which means no-in-person instruction,” LaRue County Schools Superintendent David Raleigh said.
Raleigh uses the state's guidelines to influence his decision whether to go in-person or virtual. He said the community status is an important indicator.
"What happens in the schools impacts the community, and what happens in the community impacts the schools,” he said.
Green County is back to in-person instruction after being forced into virtual learning in late-August.
It's been back and forth for that community, too.
“We know we’re going to have cases," Green County Superintendent Dr. Will Hodges said. "We know we can’t avoid that. No district across the state can.”
Green County was the first school to return to in-person classes in the middle of August but was forced into a period of virtual learning just days later. The district relies heavily on their county's current infection rate as well as the state's incidence rate map.
There's no question, Hodges said, that if the county falls back into the red category, that his students will be back to virtual learning.
“Once it reaches there — and the trend data shows it’s going to continue in red and it’s not going to drop — we say, 'Hey we need to pull back. We need to move away from in-person before it becomes a problem in school,’” he said.
It's no longer only about cases of the virus within the school for these districts. Administrators and health officials are now looking at community trends to be able to prevent making matters worse by bringing kids to school, even if there are little to no cases within the district.
“This thing just forces you to react," Raleigh said. "There’s no playbook for it. You just have to see what its next move is so that you can make a move.”
“We would be naïve to think that we’re not going to have to pull back again, and we certainly will," Hodges said. "We will do so because we want to keep our children, staff and community safe.”
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