Some Oldham County elementary school students return to class

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Some Oldham County students were back in the classroom Wednesday, but not all of them.

Only elementary schools are reopening.

"The elementary students really needed that face-to-face instruction," said Lori McDowell, communications director for Oldham County Public Schools.

Kenwood Station Elementary School and several others in Oldham County are full of students for the first time since March. The district said it only wanted to open up to younger students first, as they have less interaction with one another than middle and high school students.

As the district begins to reopen all schools, around 3,000 students are scheduled to continue with virtual learning, 1,500 of whom are elementary students.

More than 5,000 elementary school students are now back in the classroom, including Harmony Elementary fifth-grader Chandler Judy. His dad says it's been a struggle not only for some students but working parents too.

"Some days, he comes to work with me, which doesn't help my productivity or his productivity," said Adrian Judy, Chandler's father. "They need to be in school."

The students back at their desks inside classrooms Wednesday noticed some changes. Temperatures are checked before students walk into the building. Everyone has to wear a mask at all times and practice social distancing, even at lunch.

The district said it is only opening Kindergarten to fifth grade now, because younger students have less contact throughout the school day and after school, which cuts down on their chances to contract the virus.

"At the elementary school, kids for the most part stay in their class all day," McDowell said. "And another aspect of it is with your teenagers. They have jobs. They have after school activities, athletics, extracurriculars. And you don't see that so much at the elementary level."

There are changes on the bus too. Students are required to wear masks. They have to use hand sanitizer when they enter the bus. Students have a seating chart and their attendance is taken. Students get on the bus and are loaded from the back seats to the front seats.

If students or staff test positive for COVID-19, the district will post the number of infected people on its website. The health department will then do contact tracing to determine who should be quarantined.

Oldham County preschools will open on Monday, Sept. 21, and on Monday, Sept. 28, middle- and high-schoolers will head back to class.

Families have the option to continue online learning. Those currently in the virtual learning environment can remain there until the end of the first trimester, then re-evaluate.

The Judy family said they're comfortable with the plans in place.

"I think kids are in a whole lot more danger probably at home, sometimes alone, than they are at school with structured supervision," Judy said.