At least half a dozen local athletic teams have had to quarantine. Exposures at practices, as well as other school functions such as summer programming, mean some students and teachers will miss the first day of school. Universal masking is the strategy local school officials have implemented to avoid a return to virtual learning.
Masks will be required for all students and staff at all indoor school functions regardless of vaccination status at all Daviess County and Owensboro public schools as well as Owensboro Catholic schools. The districts made the joint announcement Wednesday afternoon. All three school systems are still scheduled to begin the year in-person on Aug. 11.
A video message from superintendents Matt Robbins (DCPS), Matthew Constant (OPS) and David Kessler (OCS) can be viewed here.
During a media conference Wednesday afternoon, the three further discussed what led to the decision.
“We’ve seen an uptick of positive cases in our community, and we’ve been consulting consistently with the Green River District Health Department,” Constant said. “We’ve been listening to the recommendations of the CDC, the American Association of Pediatrics, and the Kentucky Department of Health to help us get to this decision.”
More cases has meant more quarantines, including among children.
At Daviess County alone, five teams have dealt with quarantines — a sign of what could happen inside a classroom when school starts next week.
“That’s without school being in session,” Robbins said. “And so we know that there’s quite a bit of viral spread and it’s already impacting our kids’ ability to continue playing athletics and practicing. We’ve really taken that and transposed it into the school being in session, knowing that there will be problems. We’re going to have kids that right now, cannot attend our first day of school because they’re going to be in quarantine.”
Robbins said they really began to see the viral numbers increase right after the 4th of July.
“Really these last three weeks, you continue to see more and more cases,” he said. “We’re interacting with it more and more from a management standpoint of contact tracing and quarantine.”
Constant could only confirm at least one Owensboro team that’s had to quarantine and Kessler couldn’t confirm any for Owensboro Catholic, though both said their districts are definitively dealing with student and teacher quarantines already.
All three superintendents have said all summer that the goal is to avoid having to shut down in-person learning for a return to virtual due to cases and quarantines.
Universal masking will help ensure students stay in the classrooms, they said.
“Our original plan (of optional masking), we were in a totally different place,” Kessler said. “Where we’re at now is a different situation and we had to evaluate differently. We’ve said from day one that our goal was to make sure that our kids were in person, and that they were going to be safe. This is the decision that we made in order to make that happen because we do know that quarantines are going to become an issue.”
Kessler also said, “We want it to be in class, five days a week for our kids. We know that’s their best situation and that’s where we want it to be. And if that includes us having to wear a mask for a little while, then we’re going to do that.”
Constant was also direct multiple times in his message.
“This right here,” he said while holding up his mask, “we believe, is the mitigation step from having to go to that virtual option. … I think most everyone really wants kids back in school five days and so the strategy for that, for us, is to wear a mask.”
Constant noted that as long as students are masked and at least 3 feet apart, then they will not have to quarantine if exposed to a positive case and remain asymptomatic, citing an exception that was made by Kentucky Department of Health.
“That’s a real game changer for us, because unmasked in that environment would really mean quarantine at home,” he said. “And so once again we just reiterate that this mask is, we think, going to keep kids in school, in front of us, and that’s our goal.”
Robbins said the change from 6 feet to 3 feet was also a big key this year, saying it will help limit the number of required quarantines.
“We believe that that will allow more kids to come to school on a regular basis, on a consistent schedule, which is what we’re all about,” he said. “We do know that’s what the community wants, when it comes to that, as the hallmark of our decisions.”
The mask requirement will last through at least the Labor Day weekend.
“At that point we’re going to take a stop, and we’re going to review to see where everything is,” Robbins said. “Then we would make an announcement, for post-Labor Day as to what that would entail. We’re hoping to see a drastic decline in cases, and we’re hoping to see more people vaccinated. Those two things work hand in hand.”
