Unit 1 navigating pandemic guidelines

From the first day of school the Unit 1 School District has been navigating the guidelines of the pandemic.
Over the past 15 weeks, district officials have been monitoring cases, contact tracing and adjusting to meet the ever-changing guidance and direction put forth by public health officials.
About three weeks ago, at the recommendation of the district’s Citizens Advisory Committee, Unit 1 Superintendent Dr. Kent Bugg started sending out weekly updates to parents outlining the district’s current cases of COVID-19.
As of Tuesday the district was reporting16 positive student cases in the past 14 days [Nov. 11-24] and five staff cases—four involving certified staff and the other being support personnel.
Among the current student cases 10 are high schoolers and out of the six other students five have high school age siblings that have tested positive.
Both student and staff cases are down from the prior 14 day period that saw significant increases after Halloween weekend.
According to Bugg, the prior 14 day reporting period [Nov. 6-19] there were 30 student cases—22 of those at the high school, and nine staff cases—seven among certified staff and two support staff.
“Our data continues to show that we are holding very strong at grades PreK-8, and although the high school numbers are still concerning, they are starting to trend in the right direction. The high school administration’s contact tracing efforts continue to show that these positive cases are being transmitted predominately in social settings outside of school, the workplace of the students, or from another infected family member. Our data also continues to show that our mitigation strategies in school are effective, which is a testament to the diligence of our students, faculty and staff,” Bugg shared in his message to parents.
On the topic of contact tracing, Bugg explained the process begins as soon as building administration is notified of a positive case.
At that point, administrators collect the positive case’s class schedule along with seating charts provided by teachers and if the student is a bus rider the bus seating chart is also obtained. Based on seating charts the distance is measured in each direction from the positive case’s desk.
If desks/students are within six feet of the positive case, they are identified as close contacts and if they were present in the room during the preceding 48 hours of the positive cases symptoms beginning they are defined as close contacts and excluded for 14 calendar days beginning from the date of close contacts test.
The process also involves determining if staff were within 15-feet of the positive case for 15 minutes or more. All positive cases are reviewed to look for connections between previous positive cases and close contacts to the newly identified positive cases and close contacts.
The information obtained is shared with the superintendent, who then provides the findings to the Grundy County Health Department for further guidance and any necessary action.
“Although we understand the inconvenience that student exclusion can cause for parents, it is imperative that we continue to follow the guidelines closely to keep our students and staff safe,” Bugg said.
In his latest correspondence, the superintendent began sharing the number of students and staff who are excluded due to a close contact. This comes at the request of district staff.
The daily average of quarantined students this week is 31.5 at the early childhood center and intermediate school, 30 at the elementary school, 38.5 at the middle school and 71.5 at the high school.
Last week the number of quarantined students at the high school was 106.5 and 51 at the middle school. This week’s numbers are down at all buildings.
As for staff, those numbers are down as well. The high school currently has six staff members in quarantine. There are four at the elementary school, 1.5 at the early childhood center and middle school and one at the intermediate school.
The new data includes close contact with someone who tested COVID positive, students and staff who are symptomatic and those with a member of the immediate household who is symptomatic.
A close contact, as identified by the Illinois Department of Public Health [IDPHl is “anyone [with or without a face covering], who was within 6 feet of a confirmed case of COVID-19 [with or without a face covering], for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or move over a 24-hour period during the infections period.”
The infections period of close contact begins 48 hours before the onset of symptoms [for a symptomatic person] or 48 hours before a positive sample is collected.
“The Grundy County Health Department’s position is that they are not going to hold our staff members accountable for formally logging the whereabouts of themselves and their students for every minute of every day. Instead, in the case of a COVID positive staff member or student, we rely on personal conversations with our staff members and out classroom seating charts to conduct of contact tracing responsibilities,” Bugg said.
The number of cases fluctuate from day-to-day and each positive case results in a message coming from the building level principal and the superintendent to his staff.
Communication to families comes based on the district’s Return to School Plan, a guideline that is now in its 15th week of implementation.
The district continues to follow the guidelines outlined in its plan, as well as those put forth by IDPH, the Illinois State Board of Education and local health department.
In response to the state’s move to Tier 3 Resurgence Mitigation’s on Nov. 20, the district has put a pause on all extra and co-curricular activities that take place outside the regular school day.
As the district entered the holiday break, Bugg asked families to do their part to limit and slow the spread of the virus.
“As I am sure you are aware, the COVID metrics for our county are still trending in the wrong direction, which is why we still need your assistance to assure our schools can continue to offer in-person learning opportunities for our students,” Bugg said, noting its important for parents to reinforce the use of facemasks, social distancing and hand washing.
“By enforcing proper mitigation strategies outside of school, we enhance our chances of continuing to offer the face-to-face instructional and extra-curricular opportunities that we believe are invaluable to the academic and social/emotional health of our students,” Bugg said.
Students will be back in class on Monday to finish out the final 3.5 weeks of the first semester of the school year.