The anticipation of returning to Highlands High School has affected students and faculty for six weeks now. However, the end to NTI is not as close as it seemed.

18 days ago, Governor Andy Beshear extended the NTI program to May 4, 2020 with the plan to extend further if needed in the coming weeks.

After meeting with superintendents from across the state of Kentucky, Beshear has decided to extend NTI to the end of the school year. He spoke about this to the public during his daily COVID-19 update on April 20.

“This is not just looking at our experience or where we are right now,” Beshear explained in his daily update. “It’s also following the White House’s guidance. Now, I know for many this is hard. We had seniors that were looking forward to an in-person graduation and a prom. To those seniors, it’s going to be a little bit harder because it doesn’t look, at this stage, we are going to be able to have a regular in-person graduation and certainly can’t have an in-person prom.”

The hope for seniors to return to the halls of Highlands High School one last time has washed away with this announcement. The traditions of Senior Week, elementary school visits, and senior pranks seem to have faded into oblivion for the class of 2020.

Senior Brittney Johnson was one of many seniors who hoped early on that this pandemic would end quickly. “At this point, I’m not even surprised,” Johnson explained. “I’ve been really upset about the fact that I might not be able to see all my classmates and walk the halls with them one last time, but I’m thankful for all the time I had at Highlands.”

In response to this, an email has been sent out to Highlands parents and students stating that “[Highlands] will NOT resume in-person classes this year, so we will continue NTI days through the end of the school year.

This is a developing story. More updates and information from the governor will be published as they surface.