The Park Hill School District released numbers of positive COVID-19 cases from summer school and summer activities with all positive tests coming from sports practices and workouts.
The district reported 16 positive cases from over the summer. Superintendent Dr. Jeanette Cowherd broke down the news to board members at a regular meeting last Thursday, Aug. 13.
“That’s pretty much going back to when we opened up our practices and training is where it’s happening,” Cowherd said.
Practice and workouts were not the only areas of concern during the summer. One classroom had everyone miss time because of quarantine. One classroom was idle for about two hours before it was allowed to resume.
“We got that information back quickly,” Cowherd said.
Cowherd said the delay in releasing the information centered around Health Insurance Portability and Accountability ACT (HIPAA) law and how to present the information. Board member Janice Bolin said she wants to see more of this kind of data.
“I don’t want to know who; but I want to know information like this,” Bolin said.
Park Hill coordinator of health services Tammy Saylor gave the board some more detailed information about the positive tests. Saylor said most of the cases were individuals and were not part of a cluster. Saylor said the district had about 300-400 students participating in the workouts and practices over the summer.
Saylor was asked about the district’s policy if they suspect a student is ill. Saylor said they will contact the student’s parents and urge them to contact their physician before getting a COVID-19 test.
“A lot of where they go depends on their insurance,” Saylor said. “We want to help them get to the right place.”
Saylor said despite what’s being reported in the news about the numbers of increased testing it’s not translating locally when she speaks with local doctors.
“I’ve heard we’re getting a lot more testing available but when you talk to area physicians they’re saying they’re not getting them. Right now testing is pretty scarce.”
Susan Storm, managing partner at Pediatric Care North, has been practicing medicine in the Northland for 31 years and has two children pursuing medical careers that graduated from Park Hill High School.
Storm addressed the board in a written statement and said many student athletes are choosing not to get tested. Storm said the numbers are skewed. She said you can take reported numbers and double them.
“We’ve seen positive cases and clinically obvious cases at all of these student activity areas,” Storm said in comments that were read by Board President Kimberlee Ried. “What the public doesn’t realize is parents and students are choosing not to be tested so they can proceed. Some parents are placing football before health.”
Storm said she and her colleagues are “greatly concerned” about the ability to social distance at sporting events like football games and scoffed at the possibility of playing games with fans as soon as next week.
“This allows for the perfect incubation time period before school reopens,” Storm said. “You cannot tackle each other and social distance. You cannot control children at large events.”
There are the voices on the other side who are concerned that the numbers are inflated or under reported. Board Member Scott Monsees told Cowherd he’s concerned about tying positivity rates to whether or not school or sports happen.
“I know some kids have been sick and been to the doctor multiple times and not given a COVID-19 test because they didn’t have a fever,” Monsees said.
Bolin said the numbers could also work the other way.
“That could be a low number,” Bolin said.
District patron Chad Bloomberg was the only person to address the board in-person with a mask. Bloomberg took issue with the way the district has been communicating with parents and said the higher number of parents switching to online learning is proof.
“Those results suggest a misunderstanding of the risks,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg said any decisions the board makes should be based off of school risk not community risk.
“We should keep our kids in school even if the numbers rise because it is safe to do so,” Bloomberg said. “A positive test should not be confused with evidence of a substantial risk. If that happens, and it probably will, I hope the district stands strong to keep our schools open.”
Cowherd noted the country is approaching more than 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 and said, “That is an astounding number that we cannot ignore going forward.” Cowherd also said it’s not just the district’s children that she has to worry about. Cowherd said she also has to think about the health of teachers and staff.
“They’re the ones who are going to become ill,” Cowherd said. “If I don’t have enough staff to teach we’re not going to have school.”
Cowherd said teachers and administrators are doing the best they can with an unprecedented situation. She said all of the uncertainty complicates the entire situation.
“Trying to find the right answers frankly feels impossible right now,” Cowherd said. “Every decision we make we’re going to make some people very happy or we’re going to make some not very happy. We’re going to try and do the best we can.”