The Duanesburg Central School District is committed to as much transparency and information sharing as possible with regard to COVID-19 in our school community. Although there are no cases of COVID-19 in the district at this time, we want to share information about how you would be informed if there is a positive case. We also want to share information about how cases are reported on the New York State Department of Health COVID-19 Report Card.
If you have any questions about these or any other COVID-19 procedures, please contact Elementary School Nurse Amber Lounsbury alounsbury@duanesburg.org, Jr./Sr. High School Nurse Stephanie Yauchler syauchler@duanesburg.org, or Superintendent James Niedermeier jniedermeier@duanesburg.org.
Notifying our Community of Positive Case
In the event of a positive case among Duanesburg Central School District students or staff members, we will issue an email notification to all employees and to all families district-wide via One Call Now. We will also post the information on our website.
Our notification to families will indicate which school the individual is connected to. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other privacy laws restrict the district from disclosing or confirming any personally identifiable information and we cannot identify anyone who has tested positive.
We are committed to keeping you informed while also respecting the federal and state laws that prohibit the release of confidential medical information. It is the role of Schenectady County Public Health Services to contact individuals who were potentially exposed and should be tested. The public health department will reach out to all contacts of an individual confirmed to have COVID-19 and advise on the need to quarantine and arrange testing for those exposed.
We will not issue any COVID-19 notifications until we have received confirmation from a county public health department.
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) COVID-19 Report Card
The New York State DOH has launched an online COVID-19 Report Card that provides information about cases connected to schools and higher education institutions. All schools in New York state, including Duanesburg, submit information daily to the state for this report card, or “dashboard.”
It is important to note that in addition to school districts, COVID-19 cases are also being reported to the state directly by labs. For this reason, there could be a case reported on the dashboard that either the district is unaware of or has not yet been verified with us by the county department of public health. Labs report cases by student address, which means a case involving a student who does not attend a district school (e.g. a home school, private or parochial school student), could appear in the district’s dashboard in a column titled, “Lab Reported Positives based on Residential Address.”
Additionally, DCS may be required to report a “presumptive positive” case. These cases could include a member of our community who has a) elected not to take a test and, instead, follow self-quarantining procedures, b) not received results within 48 hours of taking a test, or c) is unwilling to share pertinent symptoms with school health staff.
We continue to emphasize that we will notify our community directly once we receive confirmation from the county health department of a student or staff member diagnosed with COVID-19.
Health & Safety Precautions
We continue to encourage all members of our school community to follow precautions so that we can continue with our reopening plan for teaching and learning and to promote health and safety in our community as a whole. This includes:
- Practicing safe social distancing at all times;
- Washing hands regularly;
- Wearing a mask in public, especially when social distancing is not possible; and
- Staying home when not feeling well.
Return to School Protocols
The New York State Department of Health has provided a flow chart that may be helpful to parents when making decisions about when to keep a student home from school, and when students with COVID-related symptoms can return to school.
Health & Safety Precautions
We continue to encourage all members of our school community to follow precautions so that we can continue with our reopening plan for teaching and learning and to promote health and safety in our community as a whole. This includes:
- Practicing safe social distancing at all times;
- Wearing a mask in public, especially when social distancing is not possible; and
- Staying home when not feeling well.