Owensboro Public Schools will return to a hybrid schedule with in-person classes beginning Thursday, as school districts across Kentucky continue to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owensboro Public Schools will have students in the “A” group attend in-person on Monday and Tuesday. Students in the “B” group will be in the classroom Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is an intervention day for students who need extra help.
Owensboro Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Constant said the current schedule can change, depending on the number of COVID-19 cases.
“We are very aware that more numbers could happen. We expect it," said Constant. "And when they begin to affect our core services of transporting kids, feeding kids, and teaching kids, we will have to make decisions and potentially pull back to virtual as a district, or pull back to virtual in any one of our schools.”
Constant said about 80 percent of students are coming back in-person and 20 percent are in the Virtual Academy. The district has about 5,000 students.
Like schools across the nation, many Kentucky school districts have faced a shortage of staff members due to testing positive for COVID-19 or being in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Constant said, so far, staffing looks good as district schools return to in-person classes on the hybrid schedule.
“Over the holiday break we monitored the positive case count and the quarantine count of our staff," said Constant. "And just luckily it seems that most of those on that list are rolling off to return to work dates that coincide with our second semester start.”
The return to the hybrid schedule on Thursday is to align with the start of the district's second semester.
