Private schools in Owensboro-Daviess County announced Thursday they will continue daily in-person instruction, as they’ve been minimally affected by the community rise in COVID-19 cases.
Officials with Owensboro Catholic Schools, Heritage Christian School, and Grace Christian Academy said they are monitoring the situation, but their schools have numerous safety precautions in place in hopes of continuing in-person instruction.
Owensboro and Daviess County public schools announced Wednesday they’ll start transitioning to all-virtual instruction beginning Monday.
Owensboro Catholic Schools
Officials with OCS on Thursday discussed how they’ve found success with in-person classes so far this semester, and how they hope their mitigation strategies will allow them to remain in the classroom despite elevated COVID-19 cases in the community.
Chief among their strategies have been wearing masks at all times, social distancing in the classrooms and hallways, and putting dividers on each student’s desk. Other safety measures include staggered lunches and recesses, new arrival and departure procedures, hand sanitizer in all the classrooms, and cleaning each building every night.
Chief Administrative Officer Keith Osborne said the staff and administration was pleasantly surprised by the students’ compliance to the mask requirements.
“The kids were thrilled to be back in person, and they understood from the beginning that this is what we had to do in order to make this happen,” he said.
Though there have been coronavirus cases and quarantines among students and staff, Osborne said there hasn’t been any spread within the buildings — everything has originated in the community.
“We have not had any in-school transmissions,” Osborne said. “That is something we’re extremely proud of.”
Osborne said they do have some contingency plans that include switching to virtual instruction, but they are going to do whatever it takes to remain in-person.
“While we don’t have a set number or threshold in mind, we are discussing it every day,” he said. “If it reaches a point, we could go virtual if we needed to, but our goal is to stay in person.”
K-3 Campus Principal Jim Tinius said it’s especially important for students in the lower grade levels to be in a classroom.
“Especially at the K-3 level, the in-person instruction is invaluable,” he said. “When they are trying to learn their letters and sounds and how to read, there’s nothing that can take the place of them being in the classroom with a teacher getting face-to-face instruction. We’re trying to do everything we can do to have that opportunity.”
Tinius said the administration had to prioritize the things they thought were still most important and how they could get those things done, and it’s taken effort from everyone involved to be able to continue in-person learning.
“It was a lot of brainstorming and collaboration and cooperation with all the stakeholders,” he said. “The students and teachers have done a great job adjusting and the parents have bought into what we’re doing. I think everybody appreciates the fact that the kids are here every day.”
Heritage Christian School
Officials with Heritage Christian said the plan is to continue with in-person instruction five days a week, as the school population has not been severely affected by this county-wide increase.
“At this point, none of our students, faculty or staff have tested positive for COVID-19,” a statement from the school reads. “Out of 197 students and 18 faculty/staff, we have had a total of 28 who have been under some level of quarantine at various times because of possible COVID exposure. The most we’ve had out at one time is 9.”
The statement continues, “We monitor our situation very carefully on a day-to-day basis. We are not ruling out the possibility that we may have to go to NTI and suspend in-person classes, but we are not at that point now.”
Grace Christian Academy
Chris Holmes, Head of School at GCA, said they are thankful to still be meeting in-person each day, and they plan to keep students in the classroom.
“We are working hard to be as cautious as possible even as we see coronavirus cases on the increase in the area,” he said. “While we cannot predict the future, we intend to continue to have in-person instruction as long as possible. Thus far, we have not had any positive COVID-19 cases among any of our students, faculty, or staff.”
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