School finally confirms cases over summer
Before Park Hill opened its doors for summer school, district officials say they worked with public health officials to protect students’ and staff members’ health and safety.
Many of the precautionary measures implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 came at the direction of Kansas City Missouri Health Department and Platte County Health Department. The preventive measures included social distancing, screening and face coverings.
Despite the preventive procedures, school officials this week confirmed that during the summer four staff members and 16 students tested positive for COVID-19 in Park Hill.
The district’s data includes cases in district buildings, summer school and summer activities.
All the students who tested positive for the novel coronavirus were high-school age, school officials said.
As a result of these positive cases, the school district says 44 people were asked to quarantine for 14 days. Presumed positive cases caused 14 people to quarantine for one to three days (test came back negative) and 48 people to quarantine for less than one day (test came back negative).
Park Hill officials kept a very tight lip about the COVID-19 cases during June and July, but provided answers this week on the district’s web site after receiving many questions from district patrons.
The quiet treatment of the positive cases could be a leading reason why the district has received a reasonable amount of negative feedback about its lack of communication in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, Park Hill announced as of Aug. 5, the district will notify the entire school or team if there is a positive case of COVID-19.
“If we find out that your child was directly in contact at school with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 or someone whose medical provider diagnosed them with a presumed case of COVID-19, we will contact you,” school officials say.
Teachers and staff members will also be notified, but only if they were in direct contact at work with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus or someone who was diagnosed with a presumed case of the virus by a medical doctor, the district indicates.