Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lincoln County students will not be returning to in-person classes this year. That announcement means the cancellation of several end-of-the-year activities, including senior prom and graduation.

The spring sports season has also been cancelled, according to a press release from the Lincoln County School District.

“The KHSAA has officially cancelled the spring sports season,” the release states. “All extracurricular activities, including athletics and clubs, are cancelled. This means no practices or games. No students are permitted on campus.”

The school year will also end sooner than previously expected as Kentucky Department of Education Interim Commissioner Kevin Brown announced last week that KDE will count all Non-Traditional Instruction days as seven hours of instruction.

Using the new calculation, the last day of school for Lincoln County students will now be May 7.

Plans are currently being developed to celebrate those Lincoln County High School seniors who won’t be able to have an in-person graduation ceremony. Governor Andy Beshear said last week that no in-person graduation ceremonies or proms can take place because the state has not met the Phase One requirements for reopening the state.

“There will definitely be a graduation ceremony of some type for the Class of 2020,”said Lincoln County High School Principal Michael Godbey.

Godbey said the company that makes caps, gowns and diplomas is currently shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Knowing when they can get those items to us is very important for setting a graduation date,” he said.

Godbey said he’s making plans with staff to meet with the class officers in an online setting to get their feedback.

Superintendent Michael Rowe said the district is asking students, staff and families for patience as it continues to monitor the situation and receive directives from federal and state officials.

“We want seniors to have a graduation, and at this point we don’t know what that’s going to look like,” Rowe said. “We most likely won’t be able to make that kind of decision until sometime around the first of May.”

If there is a way to make it happen, the district will be supportive of it, Rowe said.

Lincoln County joined school districts from across the country   recently to honor those senior athletes who will not get a chance to compete under the lights one last time.

For 20 minutes and 20 seconds, the lights on all of the sports fields in Lincoln County were turned on to honor those athletes.

“The end of the school year normally involved planning for ceremonies, field days, field trips and graduation,” Rowe said. “COVID-19 has taken these things from our students this year and it’s also been very upsetting for our teachers and principals. We fully intend to find a way to celebrate our seniors and students around the district still.”

Each school will issue instruction on how to return school property and claim personal property that remains on school grounds.