A school district in Kentucky canceled in-person learning this week after about 20 percent of its student body was sick with a variety of illnesses, including Covid-19 and the flu.
The decision by leaders of the Lee County School District to keep all students home divided members of the rural community on the edge of the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield. One Facebook commenter questioned why the district was “afraid to say it’s a Covid outbreak instead of referring [to] a vague ‘illness’? ” Another questioned if she was “the only one who has trouble with our children NOT getting the proper education?!”
“Due to Student and Staff Illness, there will be NO school on Tues, Aug 22nd and Wed, Aug 23rd,” an announcement on the district’s website and social media pages said on Monday. The district shifted to remote learning on Thursday and Friday.
Attempts by National Review to reach district leaders for comment were unsuccessful Friday.
The district, which has fewer than a thousand students, began the school year on August 9, but noticed that attendance had declined to about 82 percent by the end of the week. The percentage of students attending class dropped to 81 percent on Monday, and 14 staff members also called in sick, according to an NBC News report.
“We’re sanitizing our buses and our buildings and giving our staff and our students time to heal,” district superintendent Earl Ray Schuler said, announcing the shutdown. Neighboring Magoffin County Schools similarly was forced to shut down due to “widespread illness.”
Local health authorities have been urging students, teachers, and community members to get their latest flu shot or Covid-19 booster ahead of the coming school year and the fall season.
“We’re seeing a lot of illness being reported consistent with COVID and influenza,” a public health director for the Kentucky River District, which includes Lee County, told ABC News. “Lee County had a surge of cases and attendance dropped below the threshold needed to stay open, so they closed.”
“Stay home when you’re sick,” the health director added. “Previously, it was a seen as a badge of courage: ‘Oh I haven’t missed a day of work in 40 years. I went to work sick.’ We don’t want to see people saying that. We want, ‘I had symptoms, so I stayed home because I’m considerate of my coworkers.’”
One Facebook commenter called the decision to keep all of the district’s students home from school for a week “the craziest CRAP I have ever heard of!!!!”
“Lee Co. wants our children to be STUPID !” the woman wrote. “Wait are we sure that someone did not see a snow flake and call it in!”
She added that “everyone in the entire world knows” kids get sick when schools reopen.
“Improving air quality and circulation can cut infections by more than 80%,” another person wrote on Facebook. “Parents accept too little protection for their children.”