Why Modesto schools leaders hopeful protocols can keep kids safe amid COVID outbreak
Some employees’ and students’ families will — or already have — join in gatherings of extended family and perhaps friends over the holidays. Some will travel out of county, out of state, even out of the U.S.
These are things Modesto City Schools administrators accept as certain. But they also have confidence the protocols the district follows will protect the health of students and staff when they return next month to their small-cohort hybrid learning schedule after winter break.
One associate superintendent said he believes the spike in COVID-19 cases California has experienced since Thanksgiving celebrations was a “shock” that has a lot of people thinking twice about large gatherings and being more mindful of masking, hand-washing and social-distancing.
State officials have said the record numbers of hospital patients stem in good part from family gatherings during Thanksgiving. In Stanislaus County, as of Friday, the 145 deaths reported in the past 30 days comprise a quarter of all deaths reported since the pandemic’s start.
The latest update of the Modesto City Schools COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Dec. 18, shows 18 confirmed cases among students and 95 among staff since Nov. 12. Compare that to the last pre-Thanksgiving update, Nov. 20, which showed zero confirmed cases among students and four among staff since Nov. 12. The numbers are based on in-person campus presence, the dashboard notes.
MCS Associate Superintendent Mark Herbst said in a phone interview last week that in-person attendance declined a bit after Thanksgiving break. Whether not feeling well themselves or kept home because families were concerned about post-break transmission, “they’re attending more via distance learning.”
That’s been an option since the district began its hybrid schedule of students learning on campus two days a week and at home the other days. Any child may any day choose to log in at home rather than go to school.
The district is encouraging healthy, safe behavior by staff, students and families. “Please help slow the spread of COVID so we can reopen more of our campuses and safely welcome students for in-person instruction,” said a winter break reminder emailed recently to families.
‘I think that we’re prepared’
But Herbst said he feels “very comfortable in the protocols we have in place and very, very fortunate to have somebody like Aurora (Licudine, R.N. and chairwoman of Modesto City Schools Nurses) and our contact tracing team and the COVID response team in place. I think that we’re prepared.”
Those protocols include keeping on-campus TK-6 students in small, stable learning cohorts throughout the day; physical distancing on buses and in classrooms and other school areas; face coverings for everyone; hand-washing; cleaning and sanitizing surfaces; and health screenings of students and staff.
Expectations for health screening are that no one should enter a campus if exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, among which are fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches and loss of taste or smell.
Parents are asked to screen children at home before school. Pre-COVID-19, at least, it could be tempting for a parent who needs to go to work to brush off a a runny nose or cough or urge a child to tough out a sore throat. So how good since schools reopened have families been about keeping possibly sick kids home?
“With any school district, any institution, any organization, you’re going to find the full spectrum,” Licudine said.
Herbst added, “Overall, I would say it’s probably been better than than what we expected. I think that our parents have been cautious as it pertains to COVID. ... I sense a great deal of cooperation from our families.”
Teachers, administrators and other employees at school sites definitely are looking more closely at students than would have been typical during cold and flu season before the pandemic, he said. And when symptoms like excessive coughing, sneezing or shortness of breath are observed, the “referrals are being made,” he said. (Per the district’s safety plan, a symptomatic student or employee is sent home and is instructed to get tested.)
“We do have some kids that are being sent home, but overall, the percentage is very small,” Licudine said.
Why taking temperatures isn’t routine
In addition to, or in place of, a student being screened at home, the district’s safety plan says, “Symptom screening can occur on-site via self-reporting, visual inspection, or a symptom screening questionnaire. Symptom screenings do not need to be performed by a nurse or other health professional.”
The plan notes that temperature screening of students and staff is not required, which has some people questioning why.
There has been some debate over temperature checking because of false readings, district spokeswoman Krista Noonan said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended against it because thermometers need about a minute between checks to reset, she said.
The fact that some people have COVID-19 but show no symptoms, including a fever, also is part of the rationale for the CDC not recommending that schools routinely screen for temperatures, Licudine said.
Next to parents, teachers are the best eyes and ears nurses have, she said. “Those teachers know their children best,” she said. Sometimes they send kids up to the front office and they’ll tell the nurse, ‘This child looks sick,’ or they’re not acting normally.”
And what of testing? Are families having it done when COVID-19 is suspected?
Some may opt not to test their children, and the district can’t mandate it, Licudine said. Also, some families reach out to their health care providers, who choose not to test, she said. There are various reasons for that, including that if other household members have tested positive, the others in the home are “presumed positive,” the nurse said.
The district’s safety plan says that in lieu of a negative test result, symptomatic students and staff may return to campuses or other district facilities with “a medical note by a physician that provides alternative explanation for symptoms and reason for not ordering COVID-19 testing.”
Herbst added, “If somebody reports a COVID-like symptom or illness, and that’s the reason why they’re home, they’re asked to, in the absence of a test, stay home for 10 days.”
Modesto City Schools resumes classes Jan. 11 with the TK-6 cohort hybrid schedule and grade 7-12 learning hubs it’s already been using. If Stanislaus County has risen from the purple tier to the red tier by Jan. 5, the district will look at reopening middle schools on Jan. 19.
At least a couple other school districts are doing only distance learning in the first weeks or month after winter break.
Salida Union told staff and families that “in anticipation of a surge in cases and the need to provide adequate staffing,” students will not resume in-person instruction until Feb. 1.
And the Modesto district Stanislaus Union told families that all students will return to distance learning from Jan. 11 through Feb. 12. It said in a letter that the district has reached a point where it is unable to adequately staff sites and classrooms.
“Positive cases of COVID-19 in the district are few, but the quarantine required of employees from close-contact cases both inside and outside the district is far reaching.”
