Schools’ reporting of cases varies by district

For people who want to know how schools in their neighborhood are faring in the coronavirus pandemic, how much information they can get and how easily they can get it depends on where they live.

The public districts in Lake and Osceola counties are posting weekly updates on their web sites with the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of students and staff quarantined at each school.

But in Orange, the region’s largest district with roughly 200,000 students, the total case and quarantine numbers are only provided for the district as a whole. The district is listing the schools where positive cases were reported or where people were asked to quarantine, but not providing a campus-by-campus breakdown of the numbers. And the district isn’t differentiating cases among students and staff. Orange also doesn’t have yet have a public-facing dashboard with its information, though officials have provided updates on the district’s Facebook page and said Orange plans to build out such an interface.

Even less data is available in Seminole County, which has more than 67,000 students. Seminole isn’t providing regular public updates or decided to build a dashboard, though a spokesman said the district will provide information to those who ask for it.

The disparities among the counties highlight an apparent confusion among school and health officials about what they can reveal and to whom without violating confidentiality rules that protect personal health information.

The issue came up earlier this week when Dr. Raul Pino, the state health officer for Orange County, said at a briefing that he could no longer provide detailed information about schools because of privacy rules.

But disclosing the number of students who have been infected without any other identifiable demographic information shouldn’t be a concern, said Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida and an expert in public records laws. He pointed out that, for years, schools have released infor

mation about cases of measles or headlice on their campuses and that they could do the same for coronavirus because there’s no way for people to identify who tested positive without additional details.

And the public, he said, is entitled to information about community health.

“If there’s one case within a school of 2,000 people, that may not be any great cause for alarm, but once the number starts getting into the dozens then a parent may justifiably say, ‘Is my child safe attending or should they stay home?’” LoMonte said. “The public needs to know the same data that decision-makers are basing their policies on, otherwise government just runs on the honor system.”

A survey of the four districts by the Sentinel shows hundreds of students and employees have tested positive or been asked to quarantine, including an update provided late Friday by Orange schools, which reported that it had 18 new cases and 174 people who were asked to quarantine. Those numbers are in addition to the 54 cases that the district reported on Tuesday. Only one school — Harmony Middle in Osceola — has been closed because of the virus. Harmony shut down last week after a dozen teachers tested positive, but officials said they don’t believe students were affected.

Districts’ reporting of coronavirus cases is “completely voluntary,” said Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Education.

“Therefore, the Florida Department of Health would be the best source for official data,” Fenske wrote in an email. “While we work with the districts daily, reporting is voluntary so we do not have the official data. DOH is the official keeper of COVID related data.”

But the state Department of Health says it’s only providing that information to school districts.

“County health departments provide confidential COVID-19 information on positive individuals and close contacts to positive cases to schools, superintendents or other designated individuals in school districts as that has been determined to be necessary by the State Surgeon General,” department officials said in a statement. “Schools, superintendents or school districts are advised that the Department has provided confidential information only to them under the statute and rule.”

After Pino from Orange’s health department said this week he would no longer provide details about schools, a spokesman for Orange schools said the district would continue to provide updates twice a week.

It’s unclear, though, if the districts will provide information about how school infections were acquired — whether health department investigations revealed transmission inside the schools or if the students or teachers were exposed elsewhere in the community.

That could prove to be an important piece of information as parents decide if they want their children to attend face-to-face classes or continue completing online classes from home.

Parents and staff are being notified by the districts if a case emerges at their child’s school and are also told if their child could have been exposed and is being asked to quarantine. But in Orange and Seminole, members of the public don’t have access to this information unless they request it.

In-person instruction has resumed at all of Florida’s school districts, though many parents opted to keep their children home and enroll in virtual instruction. Over the past several weeks, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran have traveled around the state promoting in-person classes as a safe option for elementary and secondary students.

“Parental choice works and we know we can provide that education whether it’s face-to-face or whether it’s distance-learning, we can provide it for parents who want that choice and they’re going to have good outcomes and we’re going to do it in a safe manner,” Corcoran said Monday during a “roundtable” event with DeSantis and other officials.

Seminole schools spokesman Michael Lawrence said there’s “a lot of debate” about privacy issues and how much information to provide. He cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which protects many patient records from public disclosure, but typically does not apply to schools.

But, he added, “there’s never been an instance where we haven’t supplied any of our information publicly,” to members of the public who have asked.