At least 20 school districts across Kentucky canceled classes or moved to non-traditional instruction this week due to illness among staff and students. That’s according to the Kentucky School Boards Association. Nicholas County Superintendent Doug Bechanan called off Friday classes.
“We're facing what everyone else is facing in the last little bit, with a various amount of illnesses going around for our entire community, and that's flu, and we've got some other illnesses associated with that as well.”
Bechanan said strep throat and COVID-19 were also prevalent. He acknowledged no superintendent likes to close schools, particularly when winter weather could force them to make the same call.
“The most important thing is our kids and making sure that they're safe and they're well cared for, and maybe having a period of time that we're apart from one another, that maybe we can get healed up a little bit.”
Not all of the closures were illness-related. In Lawrence County, classes were called off after flooding washed out roads and damaged the sewer plant at Blaine Elementary.
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