InTouch with Southern Kentucky July 2020 | Page 22

IN TOUCH Home Back to School Local school districts making COVID-19 reopening plans BY JANIE SLAVEN COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL The phrase “back to school” usually brings to mind a number of images: backpacks, buses, long drop-off lines, football practice, falling leaves. Nothing will stop the leaves from falling with the change of seasons but the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will most certainly change just about everything else about going back to school. The three public school systems in Pulaski County are still waiting to finalize their plans for returning to class for the 2020-21 school year. Much of those plans will depend on the guidance from Kentucky health and education officials. The Kentucky Department of Education’s Education Continuation Task Force is considering the five best public health practices to keep students, teachers and staff safe as schools soon resume in-person instruction, including requirements for wearing masks, sanitizing hands and surfaces, conducting temperature checks, contact tracing and enforcing social distancing. 22 • In Touch with Southern Kentucky July 2020