A rash of call-ins has forced the cancellation of classes for Pike County Schools for Tuesday.

Pike County Schools Superintendent Reed Adkins told EKB News that, at last count, 130 school district personnel had called in sick for Tuesday. That figure include 111 teachers and 19 bus drivers. Adkins said some schools had not yet reported call-in numbers as of his sharing of those numbers.

“With that many absences, you can’t even transport the kids to school,” Adkins said. “And then even if you could get them to school, there’s no way you could safely monitor and effectively educate them, so there’s no way it would work for (Tuesday).”

Adkins declined to speculate as to whether the rash of call-ins was in anticipation to a statewide work stoppage among Kentucky Education Association-member educators.

The cancellation of classes for Pike County Schools came on the same day that thousands of educators, including many from Pike County, demonstrated in Frankfort at the state capitol against pension reform, and in favor of funding for education. The cancellation also came shortly after the state House of Representatives approved a tax plan that has been criticized as being too friendly to corporations and not friendly enough to education and other areas. The cancellation was announced Monday just as the House was debating a budget bill educators have criticized for how it funds education.

As of this report, a statewide work stoppage among KEA members had not been announced.