Shady Creek prepares to host students

Outdoor school implements additional procedures to prevent the spread of illness

The school year has started up again and many children have the opportunity to attend outdoor school – Shady Creek will be hosting their education programs.

Back in March, Shady Creek Outdoor School voluntarily closed following an outbreak of Norovirus, according to Appealdemocrat archives.

More than 50 people reportedly got sick at the Nevada City school, which is operated by the Sutter County Office of the Superintendent of Schools, prompting an investigation by the Nevada County Public Health Department and the Nevada County Environmental Health Department.

Shannon Cueva, director of Shady Creek, said they hired an outside company to do a full sanitization and wipe down of the facility during the closure.

Along with that, Cueva said they have since implemented additional procedures to prevent illness from spreading.

“We’ve put in a lot of preventative measures to prevent the spread of illness,” Cueva said.

She said the facility has added additional hand washing stations in the dining hall, added more hand sanitizer stations, all staff go through food safety training – not just the food staff – and there are also changes to how students are served food.

She said traditionally, dinner was served family style, where kids would serve themselves, and staff would serve breakfast and lunch.

However, now all meals will be served by staff.

There are also quarantine protocols where, if a student exhibits symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea, they are separated from the group and if they experience secondary symptoms, they are sent home. However, if they are “free and clear” for six hours, they can return to their normal routine – and parents are kept in the loop about their child being ill as well.

One of the other procedures is if more than three people are ill, the facility will switch to disposable food service ware in the dining hall, such as plates, forks, etc.

She said they’re also encouraging schools to watch for students who are ill prior to attending outdoor school.

“We’ve encouraged schools to do health screenings before they

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