Beech Tree News Network

The ongoing battle with COVID-19 continues across the nation but also in Kentucky and locally in Butler County.  

Gov. Andy Beshear is reporting daily an almost record-breaking number of cases and stated on Thursday that 94 of Kentucky’s 120 counties are in the virus “Red Zone.”  

The governor is strongly recommending that counties follow several “Red Zone” recommendations beginning Monday, November 16.  

--Having schools go to virtual learning.

--Asking employers to allow their employees to work from home when possible.

--Non-critical state government offices will operate virtually.

--Reduce in-person shopping.  Order online for curbside pickup.

--Order takeout.  Avoid dining in restaurants or bars.

--Prioritize shopping at businesses that follow and enforce the mask mandate and other guidance.

--Reschedule, postpone, or cancel public and private events.

--Do not host or attend gatherings of any kind.

--Avoid non-essential activities outside your home.

--Reduce overall activity and contacts and follow existing guidance to defeat COVID-19.

Locally, Butler County Judge-Executive Tim Flener has issued an executive order announcing the closure of county government buildings.  

According to various sources, county government currently has five departments that have been impacted by the virus.  

The text of the executive order is listed below: 

For his part, Morgantown Mayor Billy Phelps took action when the county moved to “Red” a few weeks ago but states that all public services are being maintained.  

“We closed City Hall to public walk-ins three weeks ago when the county became a ‘red zone,’” said Phelps.   “The city is still providing all public services and you can call City Hall at any time during regular business hours and we can meet you if needed.”  

The Butler County School District moved its instruction level from “yellow” to “orange” this past week, November 9-13, in response to an increased number of cases connected with school personnel and students, including those in quarantine.  The switch meant that students attended in-person instruction fewer days per week (yellow- two days per week; orange-one day per week).  However, as those cases subsided, the district announced on Friday (November 13) that instruction will move back to “yellow” beginning next week, November 16.

Superintendent Rober Tuck released the following statement to staff on Friday: 

"As we head into the weekend and look at the beginning of another week, I wanted to reach out to each and every one of you to discuss where we are as a district in regards to COVID and where we look to go from here on out.  As most of you have heard, we will return to our Yellow schedule which allows for in-person classes Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for our A/B students.  This was a decision that was not taken lightly with input and consensus building of the district leadership team examining all angles of all stakeholders and keeping students at the forefront of our decision.  I feel providing you this data is the most succinct method to provide transparency with our decision.

--If no other cases are presented to the district by Monday, November 16th, we will have no students or staff who are active positive cases of COVID. 

--By Tuesday, November 17th, we will have 22 staff and students return to our district from quarantine.  By Thursday, November 19th, all but 5 current individuals will come off of quarantine.  

--We continue to see no active spread of COVID within our schools.  There is only one case in the district so far that we feel could be traced back to person to person spread.  The remainder of the spread of the virus is community based.

--Our schools continue to do an absolutely fabulous job of practicing mitigation strategies and we must continue to do so.  We have seen the impact of contact tracing amongst our staff and students and we must continue to practice safe social distancing. 

--Lastly, our goal as a district is to get as many days in for in-person education for our students as we can.  With the above listed factors, we feel confident that we can accomplish this in the upcoming week.  We do not know what the future holds.  The numbers within our region continue to increase.  We realize that this will eventually impact our schools.  We must take as many opportunities now to get our students in our buildings in a safe manner as possible. 

Yesterday, the district Leadership Team met to discuss the upcoming week, our Return to School Matrix, and the various protocols in place to ensure safety, mitigation, and communication within our district.  Principals from each of our schools were able to share data, opinions, and the various issues they are seeing.  Within our Return to School Matrix, it was agreed to by all that we will begin focusing as a leadership team on factors relevant to the district and community when making a decision on color for the upcoming week.  Principals and district staff will report on the number of cases, communications from the BRDHD, community based spread, contact tracing quarantines, staff availability, sub availability, and other factors within the schools and district.  The District Leadership Team will then collaboratively decide upon an appropriate color for the next week which best suits the ever changing educational landscape in this pandemic.   This change in our online Matrix will better help us to communicate what color we are on for the upcoming week of school while reducing chances for confusion amongst our stakeholders.  This has been an ongoing struggle that we have tried to rectify and feel this will be the best moving forward.  We will be sending the updated Matrix to you when we have the updated Matrix completed.

Additionally, the district leadership team discussed communication strategies when responding to a positive case within our schools.  It was agreed upon that we will utilize both school wide letters announcing positive cases within the school as well as send separate letters to specific classrooms to notify the students and staff of those classrooms of a positive case within the classroom.  This will help to streamline the communication process communications and ensure for transparency amongst school stakeholders.  I must commend NBES staff members Marcus Harrison and Kaylyn McKinney for reaching out to our District Leadership Team to discuss and provide feedback on our communication guidelines that have helped us solidify our communication protocol document which will streamline the communication process for all.  This is the type of teamwork and collaboration our district needs in order to continue to move forward and provide the best education and workplace for all.  The power of collective intelligence in solving problems can and is powerful.  My continued hope is to continue to build this culture of collegial interchange across our district that will unity our district and community.  

I want to take this last paragraph to express my sincerest appreciation for the hard work, dedication, and flexibility you have shown throughout this school year.  We are facing a constantly changing and ever evolving challenge when responding to this virus.  You have stepped up to the challenge and met it head on, going above and beyond for the students in your classrooms.  You have shown a commitment and professionalism that all should be proud of.  While the words are not enough to express my appreciation, I want to say thank you for all you do and the fantastic job you are doing in our school."

A decision regarding school status each week will be made on Thursdays following a district leadership meeting and after considering multiple data points pertaining to Covid-19 and its spread.