JCPS Reopening: Updates from February 9th Plan Discussion
On February 9th 2021, the Jefferson County Board of Education held a special meeting - a “working session” - to present and discuss in detail JCPS’ reopening plans, and how those plans would be executed at individual schools.
A recommendation from Dr. Pollio is to come next week, 2/16. The Board will vote later. The earliest reopening date is currently March 17th, due to vaccine availibility.
In addition to the JCPS Superintendent Dr. Pollio and the sitting Board members, a laundry list of other JCPS officials including a selection of principals at all grade levels, were in attendance to present the JCPS plans, discuss their individual school plans, and to answer questions.
For those following reopening and the overall JCPS plans and guidelines for reopening - there was little new in the reading of the plans. However, it did present an opportunity to showcase the amount of work, detail and care that individual schools are doing to comply with JCPS’ guidelines. The work is happening, and it’s a lot. It will also be a lot on the day to day.
The second half of the meeting was reserved for each board member, 15 minutes at a time, to question those present. Compared to the February 2nd meeting - tonight there was a notable difference in the Board’s push to have detailed answers about gaps, risks and what JCPS plans to do to mitigate them.
One of Chairman Diane Porter’s final statements summed it up well:
“…the board deserves to have that information and have facts and figures before we are asked to make a vote that is serious as this.”
Three of Louisville’s education reporters, Olivia Krauth from the CJ, Jess Clark from WFPL and Kevin Wheatley from WDRB were live-tweeting the meeting last night. It’s a great way to catch up, if you don’t have time to watch the 2 1/2 hour YouTube below:
(note: click the Tweet date to see the entire Twitter thread)
Good evening — tonight's @JCPSKY school board meeting is beginning. They'll hear from school leaders about reopening plans but no vote is expected on a reopening date tonight.
— Olivia Krauth (@oliviakrauth) February 9, 2021
Watch live: https://t.co/RcQ2NaV91M
The Jefferson County Board of Ed is meeting tonight to discuss plans for a possible return to the classroom.
— Jess Clark (@jess_m_clark) February 9, 2021
This is an informational session only. @JCPSSuper says the board will get more info and vote next Tuesday.
Watch here: https://t.co/6dpaZ2x2gf
JCPS Will Struggle With Social Distancing, Even With Some Staying Remote (February 9, 2021, Jess Clark)
Tonight's @JCPSKY board work session on school-level plans for reopening is about to begin.
— Kevin Wheatley (@KevinWheatleyKY) February 9, 2021
Follow along here: https://t.co/nU9DAcb6yO
As with all JCPS Board of Education meetings - they are streamed on YouTube, and archived.
I also did a bit of live-tweeting to capture my reactions. You can see this here:
I'm watching the @JCPSKY Board of Ed meeting on detailed reopening plans. Thoughts below in thread 1/
— Ben Wilson (@mynameiswilson) February 9, 2021
Finally: The Daily from the New York Times today is focused on “What Will It Take To Reopen Schools?” - and the parallels to Louisville are again, striking. In many ways - we are actually ahead of the curve, compared to places like Chicago. So… we’ve got that going for us.