LR school employee positive for virus illness, district says

An employee of the Little Rock School District has tested positive for covid-19, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed Wednes- day.

District officials learned of the employee’s test result Tuesday, according to Pamela Smith, the school district’s communications director. The employee had not been on the premises since April 30 and showed no symptoms at that time, Smith said.

“The employee came into limited contact with other staff and was wearing a mask. The District immediately took the necessary steps to sanitize the area where the employee was working and followed our protocols,” Smith wrote in

an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Smith declined to disclose the employee’s name, job title and work location, citing the federal health privacy law HIPAA and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Smith said the district’s procedures for employees entering buildings include screenings for covid-19 symptoms. The school district is following Arkansas Department of Health guidelines, she said.

She did not respond when asked whether the employee is the first known staff member in the district to test positive for covid-19.

The Little Rock School District and other Pulaski County public school districts have been closed for in-person instruction since midMarch. Gov. Asa Hutchinson on April 6 extended a prior order closing public schools across Arkansas and suspended on-site instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year.

A employee of the North Little Rock School District tested positive April 8 for covid-19, a spokesman for the district said last month. Twenty-three district staff members were tested and quarantined because of their contact with the employee, who is not an educator, according to the school district.