In late September, the Texas Education Agency began requiring schools to submit information about COVID-19 cases via an online form each Monday. The form is to be used by Texas Local Education Agency (LEA) staff to report test-confirmed cases in public schools. Antibody testing does not need to be reported. TEA will link to the data from their COVID-19 website.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services Website, “The data will provide an overview of the burden of disease in Texas schools over time and inform public policy decisions about COVID-19. School districts and other local authorities will continue to be the best source of the most current and specific information about cases in their schools.”
Contact tracing and quarantine tracking tools designed to fit K12 needs are necessary as schools continue to operate safely. SchoolStatus’ contact tracing report feature generates a list that includes the infected student’s current schedule, names of teachers for each course in the section, and names and ID numbers of all students who are also in the same sections. Adhering to CDC guidance, administrators can then communicate to those on the contact tracing report to take precautionary measures.
With SchoolStatus, administrators can:
- Obtain critical data: Administrators must find and isolate the school community who may have come in contact with someone infected or symptomatic with COVID-19. SchoolStatus pulls this data and identifies which students share the same classes or schedules. SchoolStatus also monitors individuals’ quarantine start and end dates to determine when they could potentially return to school.
- Communicate efficiently: Using SchoolStatus’ communication tools, administrators can quickly send group communications specifically to those in the contact tracing report to alert them of potential exposure, inform best practices and outline next steps in an effort to contain a potential outbreak.
- Maintain privacy: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Acts require confidentiality of students or staff members. Communications deployed through SchoolStatus are received as a one to one communication which enables families to reply directly and privately with questions and concerns.
- Demonstrate compliance: Communications are logged and recorded within SchoolStatus to demonstrate appropriate schooland CDC compliance.
School districts in Texas have found SchoolStatus to be an essential tool as administrators navigate changes in expectations from parents as well as the state.
About SchoolStatus
SchoolStatus is the district-wide communication tool that integrates key student data in order to increase communication among educators, district administrators and student families. The company’s solution aggregates individual student data, such as state assessments, attendance and grades in an easy-to-visualize format and offers the option to communicate with student families via call, text or email. Through SchoolStatus, millions of communications have occurred on the classroom, campus and district level.
