East Bay classroom infected with COVID-19

DANVILLE >> On the day after Contra Costa County returned to the most restrictive purple tier for reopening during the pandemic, some students in Danville returned to class. A week later, all the staff in one classroom and most of the students were confirmed to have tested positive with the COVID-19 virus.

The highly contagious nature of COVID-19 is what many teachers, parents and even students in various districts throughout the Bay Area have been warning about in the discussions on whether to return to inperson learning. Despite the outbreak, the district did not shut down in-person instruction, but did have the school disinfected.

The San Ramon Valley Unified School District confirmed Wednesday that eight staff and students (five staff members, three students) at one school have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, after reopening certain classrooms on Nov. 17. The virus has also been suspected of spreading to family members of staff infected in that classroom.

The district is in the midst of a limited reopening plan that allows some groups to return to in-person learning, including those in a program for students with severe developmental disabilities at Del Amigo High School campus. The outbreak occurred in the alternative school, located behind San Ramon Valley High School in Danville. A total of 69 staff and students are currently at Del Amigo, according to the superintendent, and 600 students throughout 36 campuses throughout the district during this phase of reopening.

Other groups allowed back include some special education students and English language learners.

“I do want to assure our school community that our district will look at each situation honestly and when appropriate take steps to fortify our health practices, as our commitment to staff and student health remains our greatest priority,” Superintendent John Malloy said in a statement to this newspaper hose updated health practices include requiring N95 fitted face masks and face shields for staff members who may be around the small group of students who for medical reasons, may not be able to wear a mask or keep one on.

The district does not have any plan to shut down the Del Amigo school, or pause reopening plans. Starting Jan. 5, parents of all students in the district can choose whether they want their child to return to inperson learning, or continue full remote learning for the rest of the school year, if approved by county health officials. An estimated 10,000 students are expected to return to campus.

Even though the county went back to the purple tier on Nov. 16, the district announced that because it already had set plans and was preparing to open, it was allowed to do so as scheduled with the approval of county health officials.

The superintendent said those who tested positive or were in direct contact with those who tested positive at Del Amigo have been notified and are quarantining. The entire Del Amigo campus was cleaned and ready to receive students again on Tuesday, when they returned to campus after the Thanksgiving break.

One of the five staff members infected is Jan Jimenez, an autism paraprofessional. She said in an interview that when she and the other four paraprofessionals returned to the classroom on Nov. 17, two of the classroom’s four students appeared sick. Fearing for their own safety, the staff members took the students’ temperatures, and both had fevers over 100 degrees. Although the classroom has a teacher, teachers can opt out of returning inperson and teach remotely.

But the superintendent, in an interview Wednesday, said they were aware of only one student that was said to have a higher fever. Staff did not follow protocol and instead of sending the child to the office to be evaluated by a nurse, the student was sent home by staff, he said. After a student is seen by a nurse, it’s the principal who decides whether to send the child home, Malloy said.

Jimenez said the temperatures were reported to the administration, but Molloy said that did not occur. It was later that day, Nov. 17, when the school nurse followed up with the student’s parent that the parent conducted a health self-assessment and the student did not have a high temperature. Therefore, the student was allowed to return to campus.

Parents and guardians are required to take a self-assessment, including temperature checks, before sending their children to school. The same self-assessment will be required for those parents that choose to send their children for in-person learning in January.

“There needs to be an honor system,” the superintendent said. “As challenging as that is for some to hear, we were clear about what those requirements are.”

He said with the small exception of students who can’t wear masks for medical reasons, all students must remain masked when in school, and the district “is not going to tolerate anything different.”