South Colonie Central School District reviews response plan to COVID positive cases
COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Teachers and school leaders say they’re ready to finally be back in the classroom, and it feels like that’s what students and parents want too.
“We have just under 80 percent of our students planning to report back in person, so that speaks volumes in terms of what our community wants. They want in person instruction,” says South Colonie Central School District Superintendent Dr. David Perry.
However, Perry says to get there his district is going above and beyond caution. As the Fall semester approaches, so does cold and flu season which can cause a lot of confusion with the symptoms of COVID-19.
“It’s very difficult to ascertain whether or not it’s a COVID related illness, or a common cold or symptoms that mirror or the common cold. So we will treat every illness as if it’s a COVID situation,” he explains to NEWS10’s Mikhaela Singleton.
“We will isolate the individual, whether it be a student or employee. We will ensure that our staff has the appropriate PPE devices to do that. Each of our buildings is set up so that we have not only a clean health office, but also an isolation room,” he goes on to say. “They will be sent for testing and we will work with the county on contact tracing. We want to make sure there’s the utmost communication.”
Perry says after COVID positive cases hit close to home in nearby extended school year programs, his district has decided nothing is too much.
“Even if they do test negative, they still need to be asymptomatic for at least 48 hours and without the use of analgesics, so no Tylenol, no Advil and things like that to reduce fever,” he says.
“Things that we learned from our neighbors and working closely with North Colonie and some neighboring school districts who did have positive cases was, what is the interaction with Albany County Department of Health? What are the protocols? How fast can you get back up and running?” he goes on.
Dr. Perry says there’s no hard and fast rule for how many cases would need to shut down a school. It will be all about the contact tracing.
“Each situation is going to be taken on a case by case basis, but we are going to work with the Department of Health as to what the metrics are. We may choose to go to a remote only environment to allow our facilities to have a deep clean,” he says.
He adds every teacher is prepared in case coronavirus does cut class time short.
“What we are asking our staff to do is plan each day as if we are going to be 100 percent remote, and if we are in person, then that’s the bonus. That’s the benefit to our students,” Perry says.
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