The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Board ponders reopening
Officials weigh precautions, parent wishes, random coronavirus testing in buildings
Lorain City Schools is edging closer to reopening with students and teachers back in their classrooms with precautions against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Free testing of students, faculty and staff for COVID-19 will be part of a return to school, said CEO/Superintendent Jeff
Graham.
On Oct. 12, Lorain City Schools Board of Education members Mark Ballard, Bill Sturgill, Courtney Nazario and Timothy Williams met with Graham and his top aides for the latest information on plans for resuming in-person learning in the schoolhouses of Lorain.
There is no date yet for the return of Lorain students, teachers and support staff, Graham said.
But the administration will convene Oct. 15 to discuss the resumption of in-person classes, he said.
More information on a return to school could be available after that conference, Graham said.
Graham and Michael Scott, assistant superintendent for school improvement, and Ross May, executive director of strategic planning, data and process, presented the most recent data and survey results on issues ranging from technology to meals.
Although there still are glitches, Graham noted the district teachers, students and families are getting better at remote learning.
Returning to the school buildings does not necessarily solve problems instantly, Scott said.
In the meeting, Graham noted the pandemic still is here and trend data in some instances is going in the wrong direction.
Testing in use
When the students and teachers come back, Lorain Schools will use random testing available for free to examine the state of health in the district, Graham said.
Depending on the number of students returning, randomly testing 350 to 370 students a week, and 45 to 50 adult workers, will give an idea of the prevalence of the novel coronavirus, Graham said.
Students who continue with remote learning would not be part of the testing pool.
Families may opt out of testing for students who return. But based on family and staff surveys, it appeared enough parents would support it to be effective, Graham said.
Weekly testing will be mandatory for students participating in sports or activities that require close proximity to others, Graham said.
The test will require a nasal swab inserted about an inch into a nostril and circled with three passes. It is not as invasive as tests requiring the swab inserted deeper into the nasal cavity, Graham said, adding that family members told him the motion tickles the nose.
Results should be available in 24 to 48 hours, he said.
“We know it’s not a cure, we know it’s not 100 percent effective,” Graham said in an interview away from the meeting. “But it is exponentially more effective than not testing.”
People have argued that Lorain Schools has had no student cases of COVID-19, Graham said. But that is because the district has not conducted any tests for the disease, he said.
“There’s a pandemic. We knowthere’s a percentage of people out there who have it,” Graham said. Just be
cause school staff have not seen COVID-19, it is inaccurate to assume the schools are immune to it, he said.
Free testing
Graham previously announced Lorain Schools will join with Lorain County Public Health, Mercy Health of Lorain and a university medical research partner to provide COVID-19 testing for free.
An anonymous donor will make the testing free
for Lorain Schools staff and families. Graham called it “an incredibly generous donation.”
The demographics of Lorain look different from those of neighboring districts and the city’s populace could be disproportionately affected by this virus, Graham said.
“For instance, people who live in poverty and racial and ethnic minorities are much more likely to contract, spread, be hospi
talized and die from the virus,” he said. “Our reality is different, and therefore our approach must be different as well.
“We believe that an expanded, localized testing initiative through this collaboration will give us a truer picture of the risk for contracting and spreading the coronavirus right here in Lorain,” Graham said.
Staff cases
On Oct. 2, Graham published an update to announce two food service employees were rumored to have tested positive for COVID-19. That result came
from an antigen test, which can give false positive results, so Graham said additional testing was needed.
As of Oct. 6, medical tests showed only one food service worker had a positive result and an additional test came back positive for COVID-19.
However, that employee was not at the Sept. 30 spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the committee promoting the upcoming Lorain Schools levy on the Nov. 3 ballot, Graham said.
Hawthorne School
On Oct. 6, the administration learned a teacher
at Hawthorne Elementary tested positive for COVID-19.
The district would work with Lorain County Public Health to determine the next steps and use contact tracing to notify anyone who needed to take precautions such as quarantine, Graham said.
Since then, another teacher at Hawthorne Elementary had a positive test for COVID-19, Graham said. He added it did not appear the two were connected because one of the teachers was working remotely and was not at the building since last month.