Posted on 07/23/2020 2:23:14 PM PDT by Tai_Chung
WICHITA, Kansas — Kansas’ elementary, middle and high schools will reopen for in-person instruction in August, despite Gov. Laura Kelly’s push to delay the 2020-21 school year until after Labor Day.
The Kansas State Board of Education voted 5-5 Wednesday — the tie being enough to reject Kelly’s executive order that would have delayed the start by three weeks. Her order, which affected instruction and all extracurriculars, needed the board’s approval.
“The districts have been preparing for this and they are prepared,” board member Michelle Dombrosky said. “This needs to be a local decision.”
The proposed delay was one of several tactics Kelly and school districts were considering to protect educators and students returning to in-person classes. The Democratic governor wanted to give districts more time to implement reopening guidelines approved by the state school board last week, as well as get the supplies needed to keep students and staff safe and to see if the state could reverse its current spike in coronavirus cases.
Kelly also mandated this week through an executive order — one that didn’t need board approval — that students, staff and teachers must wear masks and use hand sanitizer at least hourly. Districts have been spending the summer months buying gallons of hand sanitizer and thousands of masks.
But Kelly’s order also requires that schools give everyone entering their buildings daily temperature checks. Demand for personal protective equipment has made it difficult to quickly obtain quality supplies, and districts must rely on new vendors still learning to make the needed supplies. In fact, getting enough thermometers for daily morning temperature checks might not be possible without a delay.
“We will really need to problem solve that to get that particular mandate in place,” Wichita Public Schools Superintendent Alicia Thompson said Tuesday at a KMUW Engage ICT panel.
Manhattan-Ogden Public Schools said it’ll be a close call getting deliveries in before the 2020-21 school year’s first bell.
It’s set to get the last of the 14,500 face masks it ordered Aug. 12 — the district’s first day of school.
The district’s bond and purchasing accountant Jamie Gregory said it hasn’t had trouble finding most of the equipment it needs, just that the timing is taking longer than usual.
The district has been relying on first-time sellers of hand sanitizers and other supplies, but not without pitfalls. Orders suddenly get canceled, products don’t always match what was promised. And there are no refunds.
“So you spend $20,000 on sanitizing wipes and they come in and they’re not what you thought they’re going to be, you’ve just wasted $20,000,” Gregory said.
Gregory said a three-week delay would have helped them better vet those orders.
Manhattan does expect its 600 gallons of hand sanitizer to last the rest of the school year. But when it comes to thermometers, Gregory said vendors were out of stock a month ago, before they were required for all Kansas schools.
“Every school district is doing the exact same thing, so you start to really weigh on your vendors,” Gregory said.
CHANGING THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS Districts also have to make physical changes to school buildings, changes that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some are putting in plexiglass on desks to function like sneeze guards at a buffet.
But it’s more than that: Districts must choose whether to cut off the flow to water fountains, install contactless water bottle refills or just give students their own fresh-filled water bottle each day. Some schools are updating their HVAC systems to better clean the air.
Federal coronavirus relief funding is available to use for the updates, and a few districts hope local counties will share some of their federal aid pie. But the schools will likely have to pay for the supplies themselves.
Beyond safety supplies, superintendents say that a three-week delay would have been more useful for training teachers and thinking about what could happen in the fall — from needing to do some lessons online or once again completely shutting down in-person classes.
“The time that we need is really for teachers to sit down and really plan,” said Kay Lewis, the superintendent of USD 258 Humboldt in southeastern Kansas. “We need to take some time to be able to have some conversations.”
Local school boards can choose to delay their reopening, regardless of the state board deciding not to do so statewide. But without a waiver approved by the state, districts will have to make up for lost instruction time by extending the school year into the summer or cutting short holiday breaks.
Teachers and administrators want to get paid for sitting on their asses.
This Kansas citizen is happy to see our lib girl governor thwarted.
One case of COVID among the staff and I assume the school will have to close down? If all the adults are in quarantine for two weeks who would be left to teach or drive buses or serve lunch?
The fewer eyes on my reading and posting, the better!
Busses and drivers are ready and rarin’ to go, now if not sooner!
So stupid......the teachers were still teaching when schools shut down in the spring. It’s called distance learning. My son still made lesson plans, did online conferences, etc. There is so much more involved in this than the ignorant soundbite you posted. And, in Texas we don’t have unions. All the school reopening are made at the local level.
Harbor Freight has thermometers, how tough can this be?
Nice to see some checks and balances in Kansas. Why don’t we see that in other states where Governors are basically dictators.
I am glad to see a little push back to the Governor’s plans.
(Do you know of any reliable voters guides to the KS Republican candidates? I do have KFL which is a good start.
Thanks!
One case in building I work at has not slowed the business, so beats me what the policy is here in Kansas.
The state is recommending 14 days of quarantine if you're exposed. In a school where just about all the adults can be expected to come into contact with each other over the course of one or two school days, once case would result in just about the entire staff in quarantine.
Ive known Kobach far longer than 2004, which is claimed to be the date Kobach is supposed to have made the statement that he is pro-choice!
Balderdash, if one chooses to overlook the underhanded way Dr. Marshall (from the onset, supported by BIG monied money people, especially ethanol companies) colluded with the DC Swamp, Kansas RINOs. former speaker of the house, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to keep a very, very strong conservative, Tim Huelscamp from being re-elected, claiming Kobach is pro-choice, not true.
For whatever reason, KFL has chosen to endorse Marshall, yet also endorse another few suspect KS candidates claiming they are pro-life but have supported Planned Parenthood through other agencies and against those trying to show how abortion proponents selling unborn babies’ body parts as well as embryonic stem cell research.
So much for KFL enforcements this year!
Thank you!
That is exactly what KS Freepers need to hear!
I think Kris needs to get a denial or clarification out regarding the Dem Pack lie regarding his RTL stance.
1. The longer you wait to get treated, the more SERIOUS will be your symptoms.
If you wait > 5 days before you are treated, then you go into the hospital/7% die pool of nitwits.
Yes, many Americans are ignorant and will wait for the main stream media to tell you the truth. Some of those that wait will die.
Those that find a Dr that understands the Zelenko Protocol will find this virus is easily treated.
Your choice, delay and have a good chance of dying from this virus or treat it at first symptoms and you will wonder what all the fuss was about.
It's a crime against humanity to withhold an effective drug treatment for political reasons.
The more that die, the longer the shutdown
The longer the shutdown, the more Democrats win in November- it isn't any more complicated than this
Figures
Nope. "Contact" is defined by the CDC as being within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more. Secondary contacts are not quarantined (reading verbatim from the document sent out by my county's schools). So if a student gets diagnosed, only those students who have been within 6 feet for 15 minutes would be required to quarantine, and anyone who was in "contact" with the quarantined students won't have to do anything. So at most an elementary student could only take out their teacher and some classmates, not the whole school.
I saw Kris’ new commercial this evening, and it looks good!
Any information on 3rd District Republican Congressional Candidates besides what I read here?
And
Thanks!
Out of the rest, I think Mike Beeler. He’d be a good match for Trump and loyal supporter.
BTW those awful ads against Kobach are paid for by backers of Marshall are a group with 3 million against Kobach (McConnell backed group wanting no more anti-swamp RINOs) headed up by a former Bernie election guy!
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