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Little boy going to school with protective mask
It was early March 2020. COVID-19 had made its way into the United States, but Kentucky so far was untouched. Then, on March 6, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed the worst: The Commonwealth had seen its first COVID-19 case. A state of emergency immediately was declared.
With back-to-school season drawing near, much attention has become focused on Kentucky’s educational institutions. What will college campuses look like? Will our children be able to return to their schools? What is being done to secure the health and safety of our Commonwealth’s future?
While the situation surrounding the pandemic is constantly changing, Kentucky’s colleges, universities and K-12 school districts have been developing plans to deal with the uncertainties. Kentucky Monthly talked to three universities and the Kentucky Department of Education in June to see how they plan to open their classroom doors at minimum risk to students, faculty and staff.
Kentucky Department of Education
Just 10 days after a state of emergency was declared, Kevin Brown, the interim education commissioner at that time, created the KDE’s Education Continuation Task Force composed of more than 36 representatives of various educational organizations from across the Commonwealth. Its mission is to provide the latest information, research and resources to Kentucky’s school districts.
“It’s really important that our communication flow is constant as we continue to learn new and different things and receive new and different guidance,” said KDE Associate Commissioner Robin Kinney. “It’s a very fluid conversation, so we understand the importance of communicating with our local school districts and empowering them with the most recent information as soon as possible.”
Kinney said they have been working closely with the Kentucky Department for Public Health in crafting their plans.
“We have developed a close relationship with them because it’s really important that we seek their guidance and direction on the general parameters that they’re asking all Kentuckians to follow and how it relates to local school districts,” she said.
Since then, the task force has issued more than a dozen guidance documents, including a joint document with the state health department titled Healthy at School.
The initiative asks district superintendents to consider five aspects when re-opening their schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic: social distancing, cloth face coverings, screening and temperature checks, hand and surface hygiene, and contact tracing.
Supporting documents provide information on staggering bell times, bus transportation, desk spacing and more. KDE also is providing 12,500 no-touch thermometers and advises districts to seek reimbursement for COVID-19-related costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Superintendents are being asked to share their reopening plans with fellow districts and stay in constant contact with their local health departments to better respond to this dynamic situation.
“We’ve asked districts to really work in close partnership with their local health department because every circumstance may be a little bit different,” Kinney said. “The local health departments will have a broader view than just that school environment. They’ll have an understanding from a community perspective.”
While the situation is constantly changing, KDE officials say the best way to stay up to date is to frequently check its COVID-19 webpage at education.ky.gov.
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Female student in mask indoors going to exams in high school. Young woman in empty university. Girl with backpack and book in college corridor. Social distancing during quarantine.
University of Kentucky
Many eyes were on the University of Kentucky, the Commonwealth’s largest university, as it worked to reshape its plans for the fall semester. Those plans have culminated in a nearly 200-page document titled UK’s Playbook for Reinvented Operations.
UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university’s goal is twofold: maintain the Lexington campus experience and keep the campus healthy and safe. “We wanted to return to campus for that full residential campus experience that we provide students,” Blanton said. “We think that kind of education—that kind of experience—is going to be even more important in the future than it is today.”
But the other priority is to provide that experience amid a highly contagious virus that has sickened millions and killed hundreds of thousands globally. To that end, there will be a mask requirement, constant health assessments, social distancing enforcement, and enhanced sanitation. Students will be issued a kit with information and personal protective equipment.
The university is starting classes a week earlier than planned, on Aug. 17; holding classes on Labor Day; canceling the fall break; and ending in-person instruction at Thanksgiving. All finals and projects then will be conducted online following Thanksgiving break.
“Once students come to campus, we want them to stay on campus,” Blanton said. “We want to maximize that time they’re on campus; minimize the time off campus. And we’re doing that by condensing that semester a bit.”
However, Blanton added, many classrooms will be upgraded with enhanced technology in what he calls a “hybrid approach,” where some classes will be online and some will be a combination of both online and in-person instruction.
“That will be a benefit to not only a student who might be immunocompromised, but also a faculty member who might be in those higher risk categories,” he said.
But nothing is set in stone.
The Playbook concedes that COVID-19 could once again spike, causing federal and state quarantines. If that happens, UK has a backup plan for fully online or remote learning. But the focus currently is keeping the campus up and running.
“We know there will be incidents. That’s true everywhere in the country right now and many places around the world,” Blanton said. “We’ll be monitoring that. We’ve got precautions that we will be taking and measures we’ll be taking to protect folks on our campus and ensure their health, safety and well-being, and we’ll make decisions as we need to.”
The Playbook can be accessed online at uky.edu/coronavirus.
Murray State University
When Murray State University students were sent home in March 2020, many wondered when, or even if, they would be able to return to their west Kentucky campus. While the students were away, the university created the Racer Restart Committee to make sure campus life could return, albeit to a “new normal.”
Over the following months, subcommittees composed of faculty, staff, students and healthcare professionals developed the MSU Racer Restart Plan. The plan centers on 12 guidelines to keep the campus safe and healthy while continuing to provide on-campus education.
“Those guidelines include anything from wearing a facemask, practicing social distancing, utilizing our on-campus health resources, and checking temperatures daily,” said Shawn Touney, MSU’s director of communications. “Those are key as part of the restart.”
Touney called it an “evolving plan” based on input from health officials and local and federal governments.
“It is very much a moving plan, evolving. It’ll be changed and altered [as the data comes in],” Touney said. “Approximately 200 students, faculty, staff and health care officials continue to meet regularly with lots of items to talk through and collaborate on.”
Classes will start on Aug. 17 and end on Nov. 20, with no fall break. When they arrive on campus, students will receive a Racer Safe and Healthy kit of a thermometer, face masks and hand sanitizer.
Touney said there also will be changes to the academic side.
“We’re going to try our best to maintain a new normal, traditional on-campus experience,” he said. However, the university will use a “HyFlex” model that combines in-person instruction and online learning.
The Racer Restart plan requires faculty, staff and students to participate in mandatory COVID-19 education training “highlighting the risks of personal infection, the consequences of spreading the virus to others, proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing guidance, and other items,” according to Touney.
Like other higher education institutions across the country, MSU has contingency plans in place to adapt to different pandemic scenarios. Touney said the best way to keep track of the changes is to frequently check the Racer Restart website at murraystate.edu/racerrestart.
University of Pikeville
University of Pikeville students will be back on campus this month, living with social distancing, masks and heavy sanitization. But the university’s president said the eastern Kentucky campus is ready for anything.
“We are planning to be open face-to-face in the fall, have students back in the residence halls, to be participating in intercollegiate athletics … to do all the normal things that we do. But we are also planning to be disrupted at any moment,” President Burton J. Webb said.
The shape of those courses has changed. UPike’s typical 16-week semester has been divided into two eight-week blocks. Faculty members have been asked to tailor their classes to be both in-person and online in what Webb calls a “hyperflex” program.
“The thing about hyperflex that makes it great for this particular situation is to be able to spin on a moment’s notice. We’re building our courses to end face-to-face at any time,” he said. “[Additionally,] a student who is concerned about coming back or has parents who are concerned, they can stay home and take courses online. Same with staff and faculty. They can choose to do their job from a distance.”
To help guide the university in a rapidly changing environment, Webb said they’ve adopted a four-phase model where Phase 1 is no cases of COVID-19 in Pike County and Phase 4 is an active outbreak.
“We have built our approach around those four different scenarios and four different ways we will behave based on those scenarios,” Webb said.
In addition to masks and social distancing, the new normal on campus initially includes sanitizing wipes placed outside each classroom for students to pick up on their way into the room to wipe down their desks before class begins.
UPike’s website, upike.edu, will have the latest information for campus updates.