The Kansas State Department of Education now recommends the state's school districts allow middle and high school students to return to five-day-a-week, in-person classes — if certain health precautions are followed.
Speaking to the Kansas State Board of Education, Randy Watson, education commissioner, said that a group of health professionals — including representatives from KU Wichita Pediatrics, the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and Kansas Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics — has consistently agreed that schools' main goal should be to bring students back to as much in-person learning as possible.
The debate, then, has been on how to do that safely.
But after discussions held since November and recent studies on the transmission of COVID-19 in secondary schools, Watson said that group's consensus is now that middle and high school students can reopen safely if schools follow certain safety procedures.