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Panama COVID-19 School Protocols

COVID-19 PROTOCOL FOR PANAMA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

            Panama Public Schools has participated in local and state meetings to design and implement a strategic plan that will provide our students a safe and rigorous education.  The following information is based on the information we currently have and is subject to change if/when the need arises.

            All students will have the opportunity to start school in a traditional setting. There will be layers of precautions implemented by the district to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. For Panama Schools to allow the opportunity for a traditional start-up we are going to need our community to help in making adjustments in the beginning until we are confident in relaxing some of the precautions. The following information will answer most questions but if you need more clarification please contact your site principal.

            The current options for a Panama student to start school are as follows. 1) Traditional setting with layers of precautions K-12.  2) Panama Schools has partnered with Edgenuity in order to offer 3-12 grade virtual classes, please email/call the middle school/high school sites for further information.

Precautions:

• Hospital grade misters available at all sites and facilities.  Restrooms, doorknobs, buses, classrooms will be sanitized on a daily basis.
• Masks available for any student/staff at request
• Hand sanitizer in every classroom, facilities entry point, all buses
• Prior to entering a building students/staff must have their temperature checked
• Parents/Guardians must have temperature checked before entering facilities
• Educational material for parents/guardians for self-screening at home
• Train for distance learning while on site in the event students are sent home for any length of time due to COVID-19
• Google Classroom trainings available for elementary parents
• Chromebook checkout available
• Providing hot spots throughout our community at various locations in the event students are sent home for any length of time due to COVID-19

DAILY SCREENING                                                                                                                                         

1. Parents screening using provided checklist; if parents send their child to school, they are                                                       

Certified healthy.

2. Staff also screens themselves.  If they come to work, then they are certifying they have screened themselves. 

• Checklist Attached:  At Home Checklist for Students and for Faculty/Staff
• Communication to parents attached

AT SCHOOL PROCEDURES

Isolation Room:  Any student or staff member who exhibits a fever of 100 degrees will be instantly isolated in a predetermined isolation room and immediately sent home.                   

After being sent home, the student or staff member cannot return to school until one of the following criteria is met:

• Without COVID testing, the student or staff member must not be present at school for 10 days

*With doctors note stating another diagnosis (flu, ear ache, etc.) can return to learn 3 days fever free

• After a negative COVID test, the student or staff member can return to physical school after 3 days of being fever free with no fever reducing medication.
• The student will become a distance learner at home until he/she can return to school.
• The student will be counted as present because digital learning will be provided.
• The student will be entered into a Google form accessible only to necessary school personnel.

POSITIVE CASE—ELEMENTARY CAMPUS

1. Consult with county Health Department to begin contact tracing.
2. Communicate to staff and applicable parents.
3. Thoroughly sanitize classroom.
4. Positive case classroom and/or grade level goes to distance learning for 14 days while those students are quarantined.  If the student has siblings, the siblings will be quarantined. 
5. If the attendance of campus learners at the site and/or district where the positive case occurs reaches a 35% absenteeism rate, the site and/or district will go to distance learning for 14 days.  The count starts on the first day of distance learning.
6. Grab and Go meals will be provided starting on Day 1 of distance learning.  Delivery schedule will be dictated by the district’s Child Nutrition capabilities.

POSITIVE CASE—SECONDARY LEVEL CAMPUS

1. Consult with county Health Department on contact tracing.
2. Communicate to staff and applicable parents.
3. County health departments will decide which students will have to be quarantined and go to distance learning dependent on exposure level as determined by county health officials.
4. If the attendance at the site and/or district where the positive case occurs reaches a 35% absenteeism rate, the site and/or district will go to distance learning for 14 days.  The count starts on the first day of distance learning.
5. Grab and Go meals will be provided starting on Day 1 of distance learning.  Delivery schedule will be dictated by the district’s Child Nutrition capabilities.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY TEACHERS

1. Seating charts (required by all teachers for all classes.
2. Encourage mask wherever social distancing cannot occur.

BUS TRANSPORTATION

1. Recommend alternate transportation if possible for all bus riders (see attached letter).
2. Maximize air flow
3. Seating chart REQUIRED.