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.