FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lieutenant Gov. Jacqueline Coleman joined the Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative at Frankfort High School Friday morning to kick off CKEC's "When You Move, You Mask" campaign.
CKEC presented the Frankfort Independent Schools Superintendent with a banner to display at one of the schools in their district. There are 22 districts involved and 29 banners will be distributed based on the number of high schools in the district.
Coleman explained why she feels it is important for kids to see schools united when it comes to wearing masks.
"I have a senior coming to high school here and my husband is a teacher at Frankfort High School, so we're going through the same anxieties that every family is going through when it comes to what are we going to do as we return to school? And what is that going to look like for every family?” she said. “But one thing is consistent, and that is that when we are in public, we have to have our masks on."
CKEC Executive Director David Young said the campaign will help show positive support for schools and encourage students on the importance of wearing masks.
The cooperative said the banners were about $120 each and were made possible with the help of Cintas, American Fidelity, Thermal Equipment and The Signature Club. CKEC hopes to expand the initiative but will need more donors to do so.
"We feel like we can just continue to get this same message out,” he said. “We talked about in Fayette County, for instance, being able to put signage on the side or the back of public transportation.”
Young said billboards and social media would also be good ways to spread awareness.
“We just want to get the word out in as many places as we can about the importance of wearing masks in our schools," he said.
As families prepare to send their kids back to school either online or in-person, Coleman said she wanted to remind families and kids to extend grace to the folks who are having to make these tough decisions.
“The circumstances keep evolving and changing and so we have to be flexible enough to move with those changes,” she said. “And so, as much as we would love to plan ahead -- as teachers we're planners -- sometimes circumstances change. And so extend grace to our superintendents, principals or teachers, as we try to figure out how to do this because at the forefront of every decision is the health and safety of our kids and our teachers and our staff."
