2021-2022 Dashboard
2021-2022 Dashboard
Embedded Files
Current ECSD Face Coverings Status:
4K - 8TH GRADE: RECOMMENDED
9TH - 12TH GRADE: RECOMMENDED
DASHBOARD UPDATE: JULY 18, 2022
ECSD has fewer than five reported COVID-19 cases.
ECSD has fewer than five reported COVID-19 cases.
Communication from December 31, 2021
Dear ECSD Families and Staff,
We hope you are enjoying a happy and healthy holiday season. We look forward to seeing students again on Monday, January 3. Following is information about some upcoming changes regarding health and safety protocols when school resumes.
Updated Health Guidance
On Monday, December 27, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated practices, shortening the isolation and quarantine times for people who test positive for COVID or are considered close contacts. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and Rock County Public Health Department (RCPHD) are working on updating their guidance for K-12 schools accordingly. RCPHD has indicated that schools may move forward with the reduced isolation and quarantine periods. ECSD will continue to work closely with local health officials and use layered mitigation strategies to keep our students and staff healthy and in school.
Safe & Healthy Return in 2022
Vaccination: Vaccination continues to be a key mitigation strategy. COVID boosters have now been approved for children ages 16 and above. In addition to helping prevent the spread of COVID, vaccination status greatly reduces the likelihood that your child will need to miss school if identified as a close contact. Approval for boosters for children ages 12-15 is expected in the near future.
Testing: ECSD has the ability to administer rapid antigen tests at school with parental consent. However, we do not have the capacity to screen every student upon return from winter break. If you are interested in having your child tested before school resumes, please use an at-home test or go to a community testing center to do so. The drive-up PCR testing service located at the high school will resume on Monday, January 3. Click here for directions on how to access this service. If you have questions about testing, please email us at ECSDCovid@evansville.k12.wi.us.
Daily Health Screening: As always, if your child presents COVID-related symptoms, please have them stay home from school. If your child was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID over winter break, please follow the guidance you received from your primary healthcare provider or refer to the updated CDC guidance above. Students should wear a face covering for 10 days after the date of exposure when around others.
Face Coverings: Face coverings continue to be required on school buses and for all students in grades 4K-8. We strongly recommend face coverings for students and staff at the high school.
Questions: Email us at ECSDCovid@evansville.k12.wi.us with COVID-related questions.
In-Person Learning
While we cannot know what direction the pandemic will take, we are certain that in-person learning best supports our students academically, socially, and emotionally. Our prevention and mitigation strategies have worked at keeping students in school since the start of the year and we will continue to make this a priority. In addition, I will provide you with prompt communication and weekly updates in 2022.
On behalf of the ECSD administrative team, we wish you a very happy and healthy start to the new year. We look forward to seeing all of the wonderful things our students learn and create when they come back to school! Thank you for your ongoing partnership.
Kind regards,
Laurie
Communication from August, 2021
Greetings ECSD Parents, Staff, Students and Community,
We are eager for the 2021-22 school year to get underway and are looking forward to bringing our students back for an engaging and successful new school year!
ECSD has worked diligently to prepare the Blue Devil Blueprint. This document, which was approved by the Board of Education on August 11, outlines our plans and protocols to support a safe return to school. As indicated in the Blueprint, our face covering status at any given time throughout the year will be one of the two positions identified as follows: GREEN: ‘face coverings -- recommended’ OR RED: ‘face coverings -- required’
After much consideration of local data and recent trends, our plan to start is as follows:
4K - 8th grade students/staff which includes all our community 4K sites, Levi Leonard Elementary School, Theodore Robinson Intermediate School, and JC McKenna Middle School -- RED. Face coverings will be required indoors at all times.
9th - 12th grade students/staff which includes Evansville High School -- GREEN. Face coverings strongly recommended.
This decision for 4K-8 will be revisited on September 30, 2021. Data and subsequent decision for grades 9th - 12th will continue to be assessed daily.
To determine status, we have and will continue to assess local community COVID-19 daily and weekly data and trends from the Rock County Health Department municipal and school district reports, Wisconsin DHS daily, vaccination status and rates, and ECSD staff/student cases and subsequent contact tracing/quarantining.
Our students are at the center of every decision and we will take steps to best meet their needs. ECSD’s intentional approach to in-person learning last year was highly successful, and we anticipate an outstanding school year ahead.
Thank you for partnering with us to make the 2021-22 school year the best it can be.
Sincerely,
Laurie Burgos
ECSD District Administrator
ECSD ISOLATION PROTOCOL
BoardmanClark, LLP has provided us with the following guidance:
We understand the District desires to be transparent and assure the public that the District is operating in a safe manner. However, privacy rights of students and staff should be taken into account and in our view should take precedence.
Our major concern is that if you have one case (either staff or students), that one case could lead to identifying that person publicly. For example, in the case where a teacher is out for 2 weeks and the District sends some sort of communication identifying the building or even a general release that one staff member in the District has tested positive, it could immediately lead to that teacher as being identified as the person with COVID. The same thing for a student. If that kid is out for 2 weeks, everyone else could immediately identify that student and the diagnosis.
Employees have specific rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to have medical information protected. This would include any information about a disability, diagnosis, etc., or any medical documentation concerning such issues. As you know, the ADA requires such information to be kept in a separate personnel file with restricted access.
For students, they have rights under FERPA and the State student’s records statute (Wis. Stat., Sec. 118.125), to have personal information protected. This includes “Pupil physical health records" which are defined broadly in Wisconsin law. Direct communications to individual students are also a part of that student's record.
Obviously, if the number of positive cases increases it becomes more difficult to identify specific individuals, but not that much more difficult. It might be different if the District closes completely to in person instruction or if a particular school building closes because then everyone is at home and people will not be able to tell if a “specific” person is missing. Even then, if you close a building, it would be more prudent to only state you had X number of cases in a building rather than say something like three 4th graders tested positive.
For those families who need to know, they should be communicated with directly. FERPA rights for students and ADA rights for staff should prevail in all communications. The District should avoid creating communications that result in others then trying to speculate "who" might be positive. By putting information on a Dashboard you increase the risk of individuals being identified.
We believe this position is also consistent with the District’s obligations under the Public Records law. The Public Records law has long recognized that “records” do not need to be released if a specific individual might be able to be identified and that individual has a privacy right that, on balance, outweighs the public right to know the identity of the individual.
The district appreciates community and staff input. If you have any questions, concerns or ideas related to the ECSD 2021-2022 Dashboard and Blueprint, please email Laurie Burgos, ECSD District Administrator, at burgosl@evansville.k12.wi.us. Questions specific to COVID-19 should be directed to ECSDcovid@evansville.k12.wi.us.
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