(FRANKFORT, KY) – The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will hold a virtual town hall from 6-7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 17 to discuss the new four-color decision-making metric for school officials.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) released the metric, the “COVID-19 Mode of Instruction Metrics for K-12 Education,” during Gov. Andy Beshear’s afternoon news conference on Sept. 14.
During the town hall, officials will go over the color-coded framework, which is intended to give local school districts clear and easy guidance for deciding whether to hold classes in person, virtually or through a hybrid model based on the latest reports of COVID-19 infection in their areas.
Local districts are empowered to make that decision as long as the statewide positive test rate does not exceed 6%, and hospitals are not overburdened. As of Sept. 14, the rate stood at 4.17% and hospitals reported they were coping well.
Also to be discussed is a related DPH emergency regulation that establishes requirements for parents, guardians and caregivers to report COVID-19 cases to schools, and for schools to notify DPH of COVID-19 diagnoses or quarantine among students and school personnel.
The town hall can be watched on the KDE Media Portal.
MORE INFO …
- Healthy at School Guidance – UPDATED Aug. 31
- KDE’s COVID-19 webpage
- KDE’s COVID-19 Reopening Guidance webpage
- Kentucky COVID-19 Hotline (800) 722-5725