Christian County school board members heard an update regarding the COVID-19 Operation Plan as part of Senate Bill 1, and also approved a contract with a Louisville company to provide free COVID testing to students facing a school-related quarantine.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel presented an update of the district’s COVID dashboard as of Thursday which he noted is trending downward compared to a week ago.
School officials announced earlier this week the district would continue the mask requirement for all students, staff, and faculty inside school facilities and on buses. Bentzel added that in order to try to keep students in the classroom, the district is also moving its procedure for student quarantines from 14 days to 10 days.
As part of the COVID-19 Operation Plan, Bentzel said the district is implementing a test-to-stay process starting September 27th which has been implemented in other school districts across the commonwealth. He explained the free COVID testing will be provided by Pearl Diagnostic Laboratory out of Louisville and is optional for parents. He said it will be offered as a way to keep the students who are facing a school-required quarantine in the classroom.
Bentzel said the COVID testing would be provided on the PACS stage at Christian County Middle School, Monday-Friday, 6:30-9:30 a.m.
He said the third new thing in the plan is allowing 20 NTI days that can be used flexibly except district-wide.
After Bentzel’s update, board members approved the contract with Pearl Diagnostic Laboratory.
In other action, board members unanimously accepted an offer of assistance from the School Facilities Construction Commission for the Local Area Vocational Education Center Grant in the amount of $10 million. Director of Finance Jessica Darnell said the district would receive the funding after the bidding process for the new high school consolidation project.
The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, October, 21, at 6:00 in the Board Room at the Central Office located on Glass Avenue.