LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Wednesday marks the start of another school year in Jefferson County affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • JCPS schools start Wednesday

  • Masks will be required for everyone inside a school building or bus

  • 2,200 students have opted for virtual-only to start the school year
  • Policies have been put in place to try and limit how many students and staff need to quarantine after a positive test

“Our schools have worked extremely hard to be ready for this year and I know we got this,” JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said.

Most of the district’s 96,000 students will be in the classroom five days a week this year.

Pollio said he’s excited and worried at the same time.

“Clearly this is a much greater task than we’ve faced ever before,” he said.

Several requirements will be in place for the school year including:

  • Masks are required for everyone inside a school building or a bus
  • Bus seats will be assigned to make contact tracing easier
  • Students will be spaced three feet apart and adults will be six feet apart
  • Schools will have plans in place to limit how many kids are in close contact with each other during lunch or while eating
  • Anyone who is unvaccinated will have to quarantine if they had close contact with someone who tests positive

Pollio said it’ll be difficult keeping kids socially distanced at all times.  

“That’s why masking is so important. That’s why vaccination is so important. And that’s why testing is so important,” Pollio said. “That we do all the other things to ensure as little spread as possible of COVID from within our schools.”

A new online learning option is also available for students this year called Pathfinder.  

Any K-12 student in the district qualifies and 2,200 have already been accepted with another couple hundred applications still being processed, according to a spokesman for the district.

Pollio said many parents reached out to him about a possible hybrid schedule like what the district did last year, but a law passed in Frankfort this past session requires all schools to be in-person five days a week this year.

“I think we’re going to have to monitor that when we see quarantine or contact tracing in large numbers,” Pollio said. “That may be something that I might have to stand up here and say we need more flexibility for as we move forward, but at this time, we’re excited to be back five days a week and get our kids back in school.”

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