The idea was suggested by a board member who believes asking people to reflect on their behavior before they return could reduce the spread, though Superintendent Larry Veracco noted he was unsure if the district would try to make staff participate in the survey.
“It’s my opinion, based on the amount of close contacts we’ve had reported, self-reported by staff members, I think they are conscious of being careful and being concerned about their fellow staff members to self-report,” Veracco said. “I think that’s how we’ve gotten in a little bit of a jam here and there sometimes with staff because of the close contacts.”
When asked what some of the questions would be, the board said it would be similar to what is asked at a doctor’s visit or in a dental office, and the simplest way would likely be through a SurveyMonkey online, Veracco said.
Initially, the survey would be sent after Christmas break and may come again after, though the time frame between surveys was not determined. Board Member Sandy Lessentine said she believes it may help prevent spread within the schools even though it’s possible some people may lie.
“Obviously people came that were ill the week after Thanksgiving, that knew that they were out, that knew that they were in situations things like that and still sent their kids,” Lessentine said. “Would they have maybe stopped and thought for a moment, ‘Oh, maybe I shouldn’t do that?’”
Lessentine said she believes the survey would increase caution and make even those who have been self-reporting rethink how they’re feeling.
“I just think that we need something, especially with numbers going up … people are going to be traveling, we need to do something to protect ourselves,” she said. “I get people are self-reporting, I get it, but even someone that’s self-reporting might think differently — ‘Oh, did I have that fever or did I have that cough?’ — if they have to press yes or no.”
The board noted daily surveys would not be feasible for students and staff members to complete, and skipping the survey would not mean the students would be unable to go to school.
The district has seen many people shift to remote learning this week, Veracco said, noting without surveying people, it’s impossible to tell why they chose to do so.
“If we’re going to speculate as to why they chose to do that, it could be that they’re putting in place an informal quarantine of such prior to them visiting with family over the holidays, whether it’s grandparents or aunt and uncles or to travel or what have you,” he said, adding the high school is currently at 43% in-person learning.
The board did not decide regarding the survey at the meeting.
Also at the meeting, Veracco said he believes the district should strongly consider doing all remote leaning for at least a week after winter break in order to allow for a lengthier quarantine period if numbers in the county continue to rise, meaning students and teachers would return Jan. 11 instead of Jan. 4.
“In this case, we sort of have history, we have an example of what happened with a five-day break, and based on that, I’m willing to stick our neck out and say we think it would at least be at that level after a two-week break,” he said. “If that doesn’t occur, that’s great, that means we can come back on the 11th and really dig right in.”
Lessentine said as long as families are given time to prepare and make arrangements and contact the district if they have issues, the idea of a quarantine after Christmas break is a good one.
“I don’t see a problem with that at all,” Lessentine said. “I think it’s a good idea — I think it would give parents some time to think about, especially ones that traveled.”
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