The CSO committee continues to meet weekly. The focus has shifted to deal with issues our schools are currently dealing with related to COVID-19. This week’s meeting focused on “Lessons Learned”.

Principals provided some valuable lessons that many of you may have already implemented, but if not we will share them.

The first deals with Contact Tracing. One important lesson is to have seating charts, class lists and bus lists available for different activities. I know that teachers may provide them for classes, but knowing where students sit on the bus, where they sit during lunch and activities, such as Mass, is very important.   Knowing this information could prevent an entire cohort quarantine and limit it to just a few students. In addition to having these at school, it would be helpful to have access to them from home, as well. We have had many cases when the identification of a COVID-19 case occurred on a weekend.

One school reported that for large activities, such as mass, students are seated alphabetically for ease of identifying where students are seated.

The second issue deals with Reporting a Suspected Case.  We have found that it is best if the principal handles the contact with the Department of Health.  They tend to be more responsive and we have found that making decisions regarding who to quarantine is best when the principal gets the information directly, rather than through a nurse or a member of your COVID-19 team.

We are also looking to put together a letter to help remind parents that they need to be vigilant with activities outside of school.