JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School District says it’s working on a way to inform parents and students of COVID-19 cases reported in schools.
On Monday, Duval County Public Schools posted on Twitter that as of Friday, the district was aware of two public schools with confirmed positive COVID-19 cases since it reopened on Thursday. Those included a case involving a staff member at Highlands Middle and a case involving a staff member at Young Women’s/Men’s Leadership Academy.
Later in the evening Monday, a spokesperson for DCPS confirmed the district was aware of a case reported in a member of Landon College Preparatory and a case reported in a member of Dinsmore Elementary School. It wasn’t immediately clear if the cases involved a student, staff member or both.
It’s one reason why DCPS is in the process of creating its own dashboard to track cases. The district says the dashboard will display confirmed cases on school campuses among students and staff and that it will be updated overnight.
The district says parents will receive a robocall “with a general notification if a positive case impacts other students at the school. No robocall will be made if the positive case does not impact other students at the school.”
According to the district, the two cases last week at Highlands Middle and Young Women’s/Men’s Leadership did not impact students.
DCPS says one of three scenarios will determine whether a classroom should be closed. They include:
- One person confirmed positive and two with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
- Two people or more confirmed positive and one or more with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
- Three people or more with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
Additionally, DCPS says a school will be closed if 20% of a school reports exposure to the virus.
Data from private schools remain unclear. Last Monday, school administrators at The Bolles School and Episcopal School of Jacksonville announced that students from both schools who recently attended a large gathering have tested positive for the coronavirus.