Students in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District are set to return to their classrooms Jan. 19. But if COVID-19 case rates continue to trend downward, the school may open up to in-person classes a week early.
Superintendent John O’Brien at a Kenai Chamber of Commerce luncheon today said he will make an announcement by Monday about whether that will be the case.
The school board approved a plan earlier this month to return students to classrooms Jan. 19, regardless of community case rates. Under that plan, pre-kindergarten through sixth grade will come back five days a week, and seventh through 12th grade will come back two days a week. A new “extreme risk” tier will trigger school closures on a school-by-school basis.
That’s if all regions of the peninsula stay in the “high risk” zone, with more than 10 cases per 100,000 people. If an area of the peninsula dips below the “high risk” level before Jan. 19, schools would shift to be at least partially onsite.
But Director of Communications Pegge Erkeneff said that’s not necessarily the only way the district would reopen early, and that the district is monitoring the downtrend in new cases on the peninsula.
Case counts in the area have been down from those in late November and early December, when both the peninsula and Alaska saw record numbers of new cases. But some experts say that might change following an uptick in travel from the holidays.
The district has received pressure this winter from parents who want their kids back in classrooms earlier than Jan. 19. One of the parents leading the effort is James Baisden, chief of staff for Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce.
