Town hall on Sept. 17 will focus on new COVID-19 metric for schools

Kentucky Department of Education

News Release


Media Contact: Toni Konz Tatman

Chief Communications Officer

Office: (502) 564-2000, ext. 4602
Cell: (502) 229-1915
toni.tatman@education.ky.gov

Advisory 20-282

 

Sept. 15, 2020

 

Virtual Forum: New Public Health COVID-19 Reporting Requirements. Thursday, Sept. 17, 6-7:30 p.m.

Town hall on Sept. 17 will focus on new COVID-19 metric for schools

(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.

 

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