Board approves quarantine protocols
At the Davis School District Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening, board members gave final approval to the protocols for classroom and school closures in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.
Additionally, Board President John Robison reaffirmed the plan — based on the board’s earlier Sept. 23 decision — to move secondary schools to four days of in-person learning beginning Nov. 2.
Mirroring the guidelines established by the Utah State Board of Education, an outbreak is defined as three or more positive COVID-19 cases connected by the same setting exposure within a 14-day period. A school outbreak would be 15 or more positive COVID-19 cases, across multiple settings in a school (more than one classroom) within a 14-day period.
The decision for a closure would be made by the superintendent in consultation with the Davis County Health Department. The classroom or school would then enter a 14-day quarantine with students moving to remote learning. The 14-day quarantine is calendar days, not school days.
The day prior to the quarantine, parents and guardians will be notified via email. The first day of the quarantine will be utilized as a prep day for teachers and staff.
Parents and guardians will also receive communication a few days before the return date reminding them of the timeline.
During the board meeting, Robison added, “As one of my fellow board members said at a previous board meeting, you don’t run for a position as a board member so that you can deal with a pandemic. The same is true for all of you.
“You don’t become a parent to deal with a pandemic, you don’t become a student in school so you can be a part of a pandemic; and you don’t go into the teaching profession with an expectation of teaching during a pandemic. But the stark reality is that we are all in this together.
“The longer I am involved in my position as a board member, the more clear it is to me that, regarding the pandemic — there are no easy answers and no answers that are right for everyone. What is right for some people is wrong for others.
“Our responsibility as a Board of Education is to help facilitate the education of each student. That involves educating the whole child — his or her academic, physical, social and emotional education. Based on that responsibility and based on all of the factors and data that we have looked at in our district and other districts, we feel that proceeding with the phased return is the right decision at this time.”