16th Covid Death in Flagler; Old Kings and Bunnell Quarantine 2 Classes; District Will Issue Weekly Covid Report

In schools, an Old Kings Elementary Kindergartener was confirmed positive today, bringing to at least three the total number of cases at Old Kings since last week, including a fifth grader and a staff member. The kindergartener’s classroom of 15 or 16 students has been quarantined–meaning the students are required to quarantine at home for the next two weeks, Bob Snyder, the Flagler Health Department’s chief, said today. “Only one student tested positive, but the others are considered to be close contacts,” he said.

A classroom at Bunnell Elementary with an equal number of students is also under quarantine. On Monday, the Matanzas High School principal informed parents that a student there had tested positive. The student’s grade level is not known. Since sschool reopened last week, there’s been positive cases among staffers and students at both the county’s high schools and the two elementary schools, though it is not necessarily a complete picture of the covid situation on campuses.

The Flagler Health Department is attempting to remedy that situation in cooperation with the district.

In a stunning decision, the Volusia County school district is refusing to release any information about cases on its campuses, and according to the News-Journal, “will not be notifying students or staff who come into contact with individuals who test positive on campuses.”

Flagler County will not take that approach, Snyder said. Monday morning he said he was working with the Flagler school district to develop a daily report that would be accessible to Jason Wheeler, the district’s chief spokesman, and the press, updating the public about cases by school, grade level and category (student, staff), both at that point and cumulatively. Later in the day Snyder said the report would be issued once a week, likely on Fridays in late afternoon. “The goal is to be transparent and accurate in the information we provide the community,” Snyder said.

He said the decision not to issue a daily report is to minimize the dissemination of incomplete and inaccurate information, with ongoing investigations, and also because of several lags that are interfering with the department’s own ability to present the information. For example, he said, a student who’s not feeling well may be taken to a family physician, where the student is tested. “We don’t know about that situation unless someone tells us, so there may be a lag for a day or two with respect” to tests returning to the parents, and another lag between the parents telling the school, and the school telling the health department–and issuing a letter to the community of parents and students affected.

“It’s not as quick as you would like,” Snyder said. But starting next week, the health department will conduct covid-19 testing on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Buddy Taylor Middle School for any of the district’s 13,000 students or its staff of 1,700. Testing there will be limited to the school community. But members of the public may continue to use any of a half dozen other options for free testing, six days a week. (See the information at the bottom of this article.)

“Because of these variables, we decided we will send out all the accurate information every Friday,” Snyder said. “We’re working on that document, call it a dashboard, this week, so we can finalize it, and start making it available.” That will not stop the health department from confirming cases in the interim however. “If in the middle of the week, we know there were five cases at FPC, it’ll be confirmed,” Snyder said. “It’s much better than what Volusia County is doing. Volusia County is doing nothing.”

Meanwhile the response to the reopening of schools has been checkered, with attendance numbers climbing but employees still leery. “I am afraid we have opened our schools prematurely,” Jennifer Santore told the school board last week. “I am a high school teacher in Flagler County and I wanted to go back. I really wanted to see my kids. I wanted my son to be in school. I thought I might have about 15 students at most in my very average-sized classroom. I have 23 face to face students in my largest class. I did volunteer to do the
combination of face to face and remote learning, but many teachers were forced into doing this to keep the numbers down. The numbers may be down, but they are not down enough. Flagler’s cases are still high relative to our size. While the state may be dropping in cases, we don’t seem to be. And there will be more. Many teachers are on a leave of absence because they can’t risk their health or the health of a family member. We are trying to utilize subs for long term positions. We haven’t hired any new teachers. This puts pressure on the teachers who are back as well. This is NOT sustainable. We will get sick. We will need to be quarantined. It is only a matter of time.”

Santore’s was one of numerous public comments at the board meeting, many of them criticizing a 1 percent raise awarded service . The school board was meeting for a workshop Tuesday afternoon, where further public and employee reactions were expected. “Although I am a teacher in Flagler County,” Angela Biggs told the board, “I am appalled by the 1% raise offered to the support staff. The bus drivers, food workers, paraprofessionals, custodians, and office staff are the backbone of all schools. They work harder than anyone in the schools, but yet are paid the least. It is sad, unethical and downright selfish to refuse a 2% raise during a pandemic to the hardest working people in our schools!”

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