Bluegrass Institute President and CEO Jim Waters comments on reopening Kentucky public schools

Regarding reopening during the COVID-19 environment, school districts face huge questions and will be forced to make incredibly complex decisions with less-than-fully-clear guidance based on limited data.

A new 125-page report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine warns that “limited evidence about the relative effectiveness” of various mitigation strategies “makes it difficult to provide clear guidance to schools about which strategies they may be able to relax or eliminate – given practical and cost constraints – without increasing the risk of viral transmission.”

As a result, it’s likely that lots of Kentucky students will find themselves in a distance-learning environment, at least for a portion of the next school term.

We recommend they check out Kentucky’s own Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning (BAVEL), which has more than 15 years’ experience with distance learning and is fully prepared to help students avoid interruption in their education while providing a quality experience.

BAVEL is a unique Kentucky asset that can help local school districts who need to have a distance-learning curriculum available while facing the unforeseen challenges presented by this pandemic.

Contact Bluegrass Institute President and CEO Jim Waters at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com or (270) 320-4376.