County schools start next week with mask mandate in place

Muhlenberg County Public Schools open on Aug. 23 with a mask mandate handed down from the state, and plans to provide some distancing. Superintendent Robby Davis provided information in a video posted to the school’s Facebook page as part of an online meeting of the Greater Muhlenberg Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 13.

In the video, Davis said the main objective is to have all students at school, five days a week. The district has no plans to offer a virtual learning option this year, said Carla Embry, a spokesperson for the district.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Aug. 10 all K-12 schools are required to enforce universal masking for students and staff, as cases of covid-19 and hospitalizations from the virus have seen exponential growth in the past few weeks. Beshear signed an executive order requiring all teachers, staff and students in K-12 schools, as well as child care and pre-K programs wear masks indoors. The order will last 30 days, with the possibility of being renewed.

“It’s best for our kids to be back in school, in person, five days a week,” Davis said in the video announcement. Davis said new rules around when to quarantine will help with that goal. Students who are wearing masks and are seated at least three feet apart will not have to quarantine if a classmate tests positive for covid-19, unless they are having symptoms of the virus.

Davis said the late start date has allowed the district to watch what is happening in the region. “We’re trying to learn from them,” he said. Warren County had an optional mask policy with most people going without masks, but within three days of the start of their school year, the district had more than 700 students and staff in quarantine, he said.

For students who might be placed in quarantine, Embry said it will be handled like in the past, when someone missed days for the flu, or other illnesses. Teachers will collect school work to be picked up for the student, who will have time to make up the work once they return to school.

Once the mask mandate expires, Davis said the district will rely on the map to determine when masking will become optional. When the county is in the orange, or yellow, they will consider lifting mandatory masking, he said. Davis said he will work with the board of education and the local health department to make this determination.

“Regardless of where you stand on this, we ask that you share your kids with us,” Davis said. “We want them back.”

Davis encouraged those who have not been vaccinated to “consider or reconsider” getting vaccinated. The more people who are vaccinated, the less cases there will be, he said.

More than 70% of school staff participated in a voluntary vaccination campaign in the spring, Embry said, and several have been vaccinated since. The district does not have an exact number of vaccinated employees, and do not require staff to inform them of their vaccination status.