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Newly-formed Safer Classrooms Workgroup to hold inital meeting Monday; hear from Kelly, Watson


Posted Date: 09/10/2021

Newly-formed Safer Classrooms Workgroup to hold inital meeting Monday; hear from Kelly, Watson

A new team of health professionals and educators working to reduce COVID-19 and keep schools open, will meet for the first time Monday.

The Safer Classrooms Workgroup, formed by Gov. Laura Kelly last week, will meet at 1 p.m. Monday and will be live streamed here.

Gov. Kelly said the group will work with educators, parents and advocates to promote health and safety in schools. It will also meet weekly to release a COVID-19 status report that can be used by parents, schools, communities and policymakers.

During Monday’s meeting, Kelly and Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson will speak to the group. In addition, state health officials will provide information on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s School Testing Plan, and Dr. Marci Nielsen, the governor’s chief advisor on COVID-19 coordination, will talk about the pandemic’s spread in schools.

The new workgroup is co-chaired by Dr. Stephanie Kuhlmann, of Wesley Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney, who is also a past-president and current member of the Fredonia USD 484 school board. In addition, she serves as the Wilson County and Fredonia health officer.

In a news release announcing the workgroup, the governor’s office said the group’s weekly “School Safety Report,” would contain information on COVID in schools, including:

-- Timely and relevant policies on testing and masking in schools, and best practices that can be shared across school districts.
 – Updates on school districts with clearly communicated quarantine, testing, and masking policies, to ensure parents and families have what they need to know to keep their children safe.
 – Information on school district vaccination and testing events – with resources to help schools plan, publicize, and implement.
 – County-level data on youth vaccinations, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
  – Schools with active outbreaks.

“We got our kids back in school by listening to health professionals, wearing masks, implementing stringent public health protocol, and getting vaccinated,” Kelly said. “We’ll keep them there by continuing to follow the best health practices. I encourage all Kansans to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

The full membership of the Safer Classrooms Workgroup is as follows:

  • G.A. Buie, Executive Director, United School Administrators of Kansas
  • Jennifer Bacani McKenney, MD, Health Officer, Wilson County
  • Jen Brull, MD, Family Physician, Post Rock Family Medicine
  • Lindsay Byrnes, MD, MPH, Medical Director, KUSM-Wichita, Wesley Children’s Hospital
  • Kristie Clark, MD, Pediatrician, Rural Health Clinic
  • Allen Greiner, MD, Family Physician, Wyandotte County Health
  • Dena Hubbard, MD, Kansas American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Rhonda Hutchinson, BSN, RN, President, Kansas School Nurse Organization
  • Kimber Kasitz, BSN, RN, Director of Health, Homebound, and Section 504 Services, USD 259
  • Stephanie Kuhlmann, DO, Pediatric Hospitalist Division Director and Pediatric Medical Director, KUSM-W, Wesley Children’s Hospital
  • Vernon Mills, MD, Pediatrician, retired
  • Kelli Netson, PhD, Neuropsychologist, KUSM-W Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  • Kevin Riemann, Executive Director, Kansas National Education Association
  • Manuel Solano, MD, Physician and program director, Community Health Center of Wyandotte County
  • Margaret Thompson, RN, ARNP, Nurse Anesthetist, Kansas Black Nurses Association
  • Randy Watson, Ed.D, Commissioner, Kansas State Department of Education