[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One full academic year has passed with varying degrees of in-person and virtual learning across the state. It is now time to roll up our sleeves (literally) and ensure all students will have the opportunity to receive better access to their teachers, peers, and learning environments for the 2021-22 academic year. Increasing the vaccination rate of all Kentuckians over the age of 12 will help protect our youngest learners who can\u2019t be vaccinated yet and help ensure our schools can open safely – and stay open.<\/p>\n
State data<\/a> is pointing to the fact that many of our rural counties have extremely low vaccination rates. What does this mean for our schools? It means that if a community has an outbreak, local schools may again have to close. These closures will take the focus off\u00a0of the much-needed learning recovery.\u00a0Preliminary school assessments<\/a> are showing drops in academic achievement for many students, especially students who were already struggling. Kentucky\u2019s students \u2013 from pre-school through college \u2013 can no longer wait for a \u201creturn to normal.\u201d Access to adequate and equitable education must be readily available for all students if we are to ensure the state\u2019s future economic prosperity.<\/p>\n At the Prichard Committee, we ask our members to pitch in in their communities to improve education at the local level \u2013 we call that building a groundswell<\/a>. We need our groundswell more than ever to step up. \u00a0All you have to do is roll up your sleeve and get vaccinated \u2013 and encourage friends and family to as well. Please, join us in building\u00a0a <\/strong>Groundswell for healthy, COVID-free communities, so we can ensure the school year gets off to a strong, uninterrupted start. <\/strong><\/a>\u00a0We simply cannot let the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardize Kentucky\u2019s future any more than it already has. By raising our vaccination rates, we can achieve a Big Bold Future with education at the core![\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][wyde_link_button title=”Join the Groundswell” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fprichard-backup.com%2FJuly%2Fgroundswell|title:Join%20the%20Groundswell|target:_blank”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One full academic year has passed with varying degrees of in-person and virtual learning across the state. It is now time to roll up our sleeves (literally) and ensure all students will have the opportunity to receive better access to their teachers, peers, and learning environments for the 2021-22 academic year. Increasing the vaccination rate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ed"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6102,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions\/6102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}