Schools have the primary responsibility in our society of providing a rigorous, standards-based, quality education in a learning environment that is comfortable and safe. Here at the Erlanger-Elsmere Schools, we take this responsibility very seriously.

We are also committed to the vision and mission of our school district – to embrace and attend to the needs of our students, regardless of the obstacles, so that they may reach their full potential.

The “Healthy at Schools” expectations issued by the Kentucky Department of Education for in-person instruction provides for significant measures to safeguard the health and safety of our students, staff, and families, but the resulting environment does not align with what we know is best practice for teaching and learning.

Simply put, the guidelines would not allow us to provide the cooperative, collaborative, and hands-on learning experiences we know our students need to build 21st-century skills.

We have kept these factors and our district standards in mind as we approached our decision on the reopening of our schools.