State’s top educator warns COVID could cause shutdowns; AppHarvest helping teens

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) -The state’s elementary and high schools are doing a good job of keeping the coronavirus out of their classrooms and hallways.

But the battle is getting tougher and tougher as the virus spreads through the community, state Education Commissioner Jason Glass says.

With positive cases and quarantines, school resources are being stretched thin, no matter what schools do. And it could force complete shutdowns in some cases.

“Those things are happening now. I think we are going to start seeing more schools go into fits and starts in terms of their operations and have to shut down completely. And unless something happens over the next couple of months where we see these numbers start to fall, and I’m not seeing any evidence that’s going to occur, I think we are going to start seeing more school closures and transitions to remote or NTI learning. I certainly don’t want to see that happen, but I think we are entering a new phase when it comes to combating COVID,” Glass said Friday during a meeting of the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education.

Glass and other educators told the Council on Postsecondary education board that news schools and colleges won’t suffer budget cuts this year is good news. Federal reimbursements for COVID expenses also have helped, the board was told.

On another topic, agriculture innovator AppHarvest has made headlines in recent weeks across the region and nation with its high-tech farm operations in Morehead and Madison County.

And while those and future projects will create a new generation of jobs, the company already is doing some things to touch students for years.

AppHarvest has been going into high schools introducing students to growing techniques that includes everything from seeds to proper spoil chemical levels.

It’s part of what the CPE calls a long-term partnership in the future.

“Target high school students to give them opportunity in their own community because they see Eastern Kentucky as such a rich place actually to distribute to,” said Amanda Ellis, a CPE administrator, referring to demonstrations the company did at schools in Pike County.

The CPE says these partnerships with business and industry are part of a broad effort to get more Kentuckians to have some kind of skills training or higher education.