During a call with all superintendents, Kentucky Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown announced schools will remain on NTI instruction for the rest of the year.

“It’s also following the White Houses guidance. As you remember we have to hit, we call them benchmarks, but prerequisites before even entering their suggested phase one, and in their phase one they recommend schools and daycares and other youth endeavors ought to be closed. Every healthcare professional had advised us that this is the right course of action to take,” said Governor Beshear.

The call comes just weeks after Governor Andy Beshear pushed schools to extend non-traditional instruction (NTI) through April. There will also be no KPREP testing this year.

Some school districts adjusted NTI work in recent weeks to relieve some stress on not only students but also parents.

“This is something none of us have ever experienced before and our heart goes out to our seniors especially who have put in 12-13 year in our system and other systems, their time and all of their work, so our heart really goes out to those seniors,” said Leslie County Superintendent Brett Wilson.

Interim KDE Commissioner Brown said on the call each school district needs to reach its typical 1,062 instruction hours. To help school districts superintendents can count NTI days as 7 hours.

Retired teachers may also continue to substitute without it impacting their retirement.

Through the new benchmarks laid out last week by the president, governor, and healthcare leaders, the start of the 2020-21 school year remains uncertain.