Kentucky's education chief wants the names of Jefferson County Public Schools teachers who have participated in the massive "sickouts" that have shut down the district on six occasions, according to email correspondence obtained by the Courier Journal.

Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis on Thursday sent JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio an email requesting the names of all teachers that called in sick on dates during which sickouts took place, beginning with the first on Feb. 28.

"At this point, my intention is to collect information to make sure state laws have been and are continuing to be upheld," Lewis told the Courier Journal. "I have no other purposes beyond that right now."

Column:Demand for names of 'sickout' teachers is enough to make a fella sick

Reactions:Adam Edelen to Wayne Lewis Hand over your sick day excuses

A spokeswoman for JCPS confirmed that Pollio received the email but did not answer whether the district would comply with Lewis' request.

"We just received the email this afternoon and we are reviewing it," she said.

Lewis' request included "any and all affidavits or certificates of a reputable physician stating that the employee was ill or caring for an ill family member on the day(s) the employee called in sick," as described under a statute governing teachers' absences.

JCPS was closed Thursday for the sixth time in three weeks due to a sickout.

Superintendents from Bath, Boyd, Bullitt, Carter, Fayette, Letcher, Marion, Madison and Oldham counties received similar requests, Lewis said.

"We’ve got a number of districts where there have been work stoppages and one district where there's been six," he said. "And that’s really concerning, not just to me, but concerning for parents and concerning for kids."

Lewis made the request, according to a press release from the education department, based on state statute granting him the authority to access records of teachers and public school officials in order to report misconduct to the Kentucky Board of Education.

"Based on that request and the authorities given to the commissioner, that certainly suggest he may be considering pursuing discipline on individuals involved," Jefferson County Teachers Association Brent McKim said.

McKim said JCTA would provide legal representation to any union member facing discipline and encouraged members to contact his office if they find themselves in that position.

The union has not advocated for the sickouts and warned its members that they could be terminated if they falsely called in sick.

Just Wednesday night, JCTA sent an email with such a warning to a group of its members.

The email, marked for “internal JCTA use only,” was sent to educators that have been elected to represent the union at each public school in Jefferson County.

The message instructed building representatives that the email was “not for distribution or posting.”

The email included legal advice from the Kentucky Education Association, including an example of when a teacher who was terminated after falsely using a sick day lost an appeal in the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Questioned whether the memo resulted in diminished teacher turnout at the Capitol on Thursday, McKim said, "that may be the case."

"The numbers were certainly noticeably lower today, but I can't say for sure what the cause is."

Late Thursday, the Kentucky Education Association released a statement: “It is possible that superintendents could take disciplinary action against educators who have called in sick to come to Frankfort to exercise their First Amendment rights. It is our hope that they won’t.”

Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mandym.