KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Parents with children in Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools have some clarity about how the upcoming school year will look after the Board of Education decided Tuesday to delay the start of school until after Labor Day and begin with at least nine weeks of virtual learning.
"I just want to err on the side of safety, and I know you will never appease everyone," Superintendent Charles Foust said.
Parents who spoke Wednesday with 41 Action News are happy about the district's decision.
"From a momma's perspective, we have a child that is adopted and medically fragile," Jolynna Addink, who teaches in the KCK district, said. "She can't fight off the common cold. The reality that I can protect her and be more intentional about that is huge."
Other parents admit that the decision also comes with some stress.
"I am concerned about how we are going to schedule things and get it done, but, as far as about being closed the first nine weeks, I am not sad necessarily, because I wasn't crazy about the idea about them going back to school," Sarah Oltvedt, a KCK mom, said.
Addink hopes other districts will look at KCK's decision and create a similar plan.
"They did so based on a human factor of listening to teachers and listening to parents and addressing those very real concerns that impact our families and our incredibly resilient community," she said. "They also did so based on data."
KCK Public Schools will continue to monitor data for Wyandotte County and the wider Kansas City region during the nine weeks of virtual learning before deciding what to do with the remainder of the semester.
"We will be watching it as it happening and giving our board updates," Foust said. "We will be looking at the testing and the positives from Wyandotte County, those people who test positive, that's how we will be measuring."
At the end of the day, parents just want their kids to be safe and get the best education.
"(The) best we can hope for is that we can keep the kids current on the skills they have already learned in the classroom and, when possible, just have the expectation that the social and emotional health and physical health of everyone is just what’s more important right now," Oltvedt said.
