Kentucky School Advocate
December 2020

By Brian Creasman
Fleming County Schools Superintendent

The American rendezvous with destiny, by dreaming big, being adventurous and being undeterred by adversity is in jeopardy. Yes, without question, COVID-19 is dangerous and deadly; but what lies ahead once we overcome this pandemic is starting to look more detrimental to students than we ever imagined. As leaders at the state and national levels appear to be paralyzed, local leaders have had to step up to the plate in ways no one could have imagined just a few short months ago.

As government officials look for ways to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, schools have become easy targets of criticism and claims that they are superspreaders. In fact, scientists at leading research universities, including Brown, John Hopkins and Duke, are finding that schools are among the safest places for students and adults. When schools follow protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state and local health departments, students, teachers and staff have relatively low exposure to the coronavirus. This is not to say the virus does not exist in schools; but protocols that are vetted and science-based lower the probability of transmission.

Each day, we learn of alarming statistics about how COVID-19 negatively impacts minority students, rural students and students in poverty. Too many state leaders across the nation appear to have a false belief that after the pandemic closed schools in March, these students spontaneously developed time-management skills, purchased a device, connected to the internet, and students without homes found shelter where they could do their school work virtually.

State leaders continue to rush solutions to the current problem yet fail to address or recognize the short and long-term effects virtual learning will have on our children, America’s most priceless asset. We are crippling our economy and national security, as a result of not listening to education professionals, researchers and leading physicians who advocate keeping students in school.

Each day we hear about the approximately 2,000 Kentuckians we have lost due to COVID-19 or the number of students and staff who are positive or quarantined. Our hearts break for those families and we pray each day for them as well as for the speedy recovery of the sick.

We understand that emotional, physical and sexual abuse is increasing among school-aged children and academic failure continues to further create an equity gap. I contend we can be empathetic to the health needs of our students, staff and communities, while also being strategic in our approach to serving them through local autonomy if given the tiem, flexibility and full support from Frankfort.

As leaders try to make cookie-cutter solutions, as if every county is homogeneous, local control is severely under attack. Yes, the coronavirus is real. Yes, mitigation efforts are needed, but at what cost to local school district autonomy? When are local boards of education consulted?

Many boards of education are advocating for in-person classes. They recognize the academic, social, emotional and health of their students are best served in school – not in a virtual environment. There is a reason boards of education exist and why local control has been emphasized for decades.

Many boards have decided to remain all virtual and we all support their decisions. Sadly, the boards that have chosen in-person or hybrid classes, are viewed as reckless or unrealistic.

School districts like Fleming County Schools, Warren County Schools and Bowling Green Independent, just to mention a few, have led the way in holding in person classes with the support of teachers, staff, parents, school boards, local health officials and the community. There are countless other districts across Kentucky and the nation that have held classes in their buildings while keeping students, teachers and staff healthy.

In the fall, boards of education and superintendents were told to move in-person classes to Sept. 28, just to be told the next day it was only a suggestion. More recently, board members and superintendents were threatened with removal from elected office or being stripped of superintendent licensure. That is not leadership. Just as healthcare workers will move boulders to help their patients, educators and board members will do the same to reach our students. It’s not about trying to circumvent laws or mandates. It IS about leading in a time of crisis when our communities need us most.

As educators and boards of education, we have the responsibility of finding a path forward for students so that we do not lose an entire generation because we failed or just gave up.

Decisions being made today will negatively impact students, public education and the autonomy of school boards well into the future. In Fleming County Schools, which successfully reopened and remained open for seven and half weeks without a single COVID-19 case tied directly to in-person classes, we have not received a call from anyone in the governor’s office or the Kentucky Department of Public Health asking if we needed help or how we did it.

Education is critical to our state’s economic recovery, especially during a pandemic, but we have yet to give education a role in the state’s response or in stabilizing our economy. The state has not made reopening schools a priority.

We have known for months to expect an increase in COVID-19 and flu cases this fall and winter, but Frankfort failed to invest in schools to make sure they could remain open.

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently reiterated that bars and restaurants should be closed and schools should be open because schools are not driving community spread.

“The default position should be to try as best as possible within reason to keep the children in school, or to get them back to school. The best way to ensure the safety of the children in school is to get the community level of spread low,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Yet, schools in Kentucky were the first to shutter their doors and may be the last to open. Before schools reopened in the fall, we should have, as scientists and physicians suggested, mobilized an army of contact tracers and opened test sites to aid schools; but we failed.

Schools must now be a priority in the state’s vaccination plan so that students can go back to learning and the economy can rebound.

We must empower local leaders to make decisions that are in the best interest of their communities. We must be allowed to use plans that have been months in the making and that follow guidance from federal and state agencies, and stop getting berated in daily press conferences for not grasping the severity of the situation.

Frankfort should have created a focus, like that of Operation Warp Speed which led to the historic development of a vaccine, to make sure that all schools could safely reopen and remain open. Officials should have directed all state agencies to do whatever was necessary to keep schools open, yet all we received was press conferences and documents when we needed manpower, innovation and the FULL support of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Instead of working collaboratively to find solutions, as the hashtag #TeamKentucky suggests, we continue to operate in silos.

Frankfort could change the course of this pandemic by truly collaborating with superintendents and boards of education who have created and communicated a shared vision and put into action robust plans based on the needs of their communities.

Trust must be given back to the local leaders who put the health and safety of students, teachers and staff first, instead of listening to those in the cheap seats who prefer a timid and status quo approach that fails to keep people safe, reduce the spread of the coronavirus or inspire Kentuckians to overcome adversity and work for the common good.