The Lincoln County Board of Education will proceed with the reopening plan recommended by Superintendent Michael Rowe tonight at a special-called board meeting. The plan has been approved by the Lincoln County Health Department and consists of two options for starting school on August 26th: Option 1, in-person school and Option 2, online school (Patriot Learning Academy).
The decision to offer two different options for students is based off of meetings amongst the district’s leadership team, a staff survey, two different public surveys, three different focus group discussions and ongoing meetings with the Lincoln County Health Department.
Superintendent Michael Rowe recommended the reopening plan based on several weeks of research and feedback from all stakeholders. “We really took our time and developed this plan by listening to our community. We had overwhelming feedback that our county wanted to return in person. Our most recent survey (of over 2,900 current parent/guardians) showed that 65% wanted to return to school in-person. That being said, we still felt it was necessary for us to also offer an online alternative. We feel like offering both is the fairest thing we can do for students and their families.”
The district will also be providing all students with a thermometer to use at home, two face masks (with school specific logos) and all of their school supplies this year. This also includes a Chromebook for students who choose Option 2, Patriot Learning Academy. “We know our families have enough to worry about and we want to eliminate as many obstacles as possible for them to focus on their education,” said Superintendent Rowe.
Superintendent Rowe acknowledged that COVID-19 is a fluid situation. “We are also prepared for the idea that the Governor and the Kentucky Department of Education may decide it is unsafe to restart school in-person. If that were to happen, we would follow their recommendations and at that point everyone would start with Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) on August 26th. NTI will look different this year for students and our goal is to make our Patriot Learning Academy and our NTI as rigorous as possible.”
There will be more information and videos released in the coming days about Option 1, Option 2 (Patriot Learning Academy), NTI, school transportation and day-to-day operations. All students are encouraged to register for school as soon as possible by visiting our website (Lincoln.kyschools.us) or by calling the Lincoln County Student Support Center at 606.365.2124.