Dr. Matthew Constant, Superintendent of Owensboro Public Schools, released the following statement Tuesday regarding return-to-school plans:
At the recommendation of Governor Andy Beshear, our district will start school Aug. 24 as scheduled, but will not move forward with in-person classes at this time. We will move all students to virtual-only instruction until at least Oct. 2. We still intend to honor the September 18 date mentioned in our reopening plan of notifying our families of our district’s intentions following Fall Break the week of Oct. 5-9.
We will continue to move forward with the Virtual Academy for those that are enrolled in that program through the full first semester. With the uncertainty of exactly when in-person learning may be available again, the virtual academy will ensure continuous at-home learning for the balance of the semester.
Students who were on the in-person, A/B model will continue to learn virtually like you would on your distance learning days. However, learning will now take place all five days with direct instruction on four of those days: Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday.
Wednesday will remain a day for teacher planning and students to complete assignments for both Virtual Academy and those on the A/B model. At this time, both models are at full capacity and therefore we cannot allow any further changing between the two.
Individual schools will communicate with their families about picking up information and Chromebook devices. Devices such as smartphones and tablets will not be sufficient for use in online learning. If you have a need for internet access, please contact your school’s FRYSC coordinator. Devices will be available for all K-12 students, however, if you previously told the district you already have a device, you will not be provided with one.
Our district will continue to provide breakfast and lunch meals to OPS students only while the district is closed to in-person learning. Those meals will be provided at every OPS school location Monday-Friday from 11:30-12:30. Meals will not be provided September 7 in observance of Labor Day or October 5-9 in observance of Fall Break.
We are awaiting guidance on the future of athletics and other extracurricular activities. Once that information becomes available, we will share that with our families. At this time, practices can resume as scheduled following the guidance of coaches and sponsors.
I know everyone is ready for life to get back to normal, but we all have to work together to ensure that we are doing everything we can to prevent the spread of the virus so that we can get to that point. Things won’t be like this forever. We just need to continue to fight through this time as an OPS family.
