Fayette County Public Schools to give students, staff full week off for Thanksgiving
Fayette County Public Schools students and staff will get the entire week of Thanksgiving off this year, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins announced Tuesday night.
“In recognition of how hard everyone is working under challenging conditions this year, I have decided to extend Thanksgiving Break by two days, giving students and staff the full week of Thanksgiving off, instead of only Wednesday through Friday,” Liggins said in a weekly COVID-19 update that was emailed Tuesday night. “We will not make up these days as part of the instructional calendar.”
Fayette County schools are closed for Fall Break Oct. 7 and 8. Liggins said some had suggested that the district should extend Fall Break to a full week next week, but the superintendent said extra days off on such short notice would be problematic for families in terms of planning.
“Instead, I have directed the FCPS calendar committee to examine the possibility of a week-long fall break for the 2022-23 school year,” he wrote.
Liggins also said he was encouraged by news that Fayette County may be on the downside of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Fayette County Health Commissioner Dr. Kraig Humbaugh has “said he is cautiously optimistic that our community is on the downside of the surge fueled by the Delta variant, because we are seeing a declining number of new cases each day. As an example, the rolling seven-day average of new cases in Fayette County is 176 today, compared with 202 last week,” the district said in the email.
There were 183 new cases of coronavirus among Fayette County students and 39 new cases among staff members between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27. The district said 1,099 students and eight employees were in quarantine as of Tuesday.
“Since our schools are a reflection of the communities we serve, we are also seeing fewer cases of COVID-19 among students and staff,” Liggins wrote. “This is great news for everyone, and with the addition of our test-to-stay pilot program, we hope to maximize the amount of time our students have in school.”
The district announced that Morton Middle School has been added to the list of schools offering the test-to-stay program, joining Jessie Clark and Crawford middle schools. The district is also offering the pilot program at Breckinridge, Clays Mill, Dixie, James Lane Allen and Julius Marks elementaries.
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