What was said by Bladen County Schools about closures? Full context here

ELIZABETHTOWN — Tuesday at noon Bladen County Schools held a press conference to address the recent closures of Dublin Primary, East Arcadia School and Bladenboro Middle.

The coronavirus was cited for each closure. Through Tuesday’s evening report from the state Department of Health and Human Services, none appear on the cluster report. The state defines a cluster as five or more cases at a school or child care facility.

Dr. Robert Taylor, superintendent of the district, answered questions from four media outlets.

Here is that conversation:

Q: So we’re here today to talk about some recent COVID cases at schools in Bladen County. First, can you tell us how many cases there have been since school started.

Taylor: Now since we’ve started school we’ve had approximately 10 cases, those being employees and various positions. So, depending on the time that they occurred, can have a different impact on what happens at school. Since the August timeframe we had roughly 10 cases. We obviously go through all of the contact tracing. And so, as we all are aware, a positive case doesn’t affect the individual. It’s who they’ve been around, and how they may impact what happens at a location.

Q: And so three schools closed this week. Why the decision to close them completely?

Taylor: So, when we make a decision about the school, it has everything to do with if we have enough faculty and staff to properly supervise children. So if we have a case that’s positive we have contact tracing, and too large of a number people will be out, we can’t effectively supervise all the children. So what happens is we revert back to virtual learning. All of those people that have been affected go through the protocol with the Health Department, and determine when they can safely return to work. And when they can do that and we have an adequate number, then we can have school in person.

Q: So the cases of COVID-19, are they contracted in the schools or outside of the schools? Could you tell us about that.

Taylor: So that’s a very good question. We haven’t had any cases that have actually been contracted in the schools. What we have is when every other institution or private company has a person, engages in some type of activity outside of our workplace and then they come to school, and then identified as positive, we have to go through the process of doing the contact tracing. So we haven’t actually had any cases that have been transmitted as a result of school. It has been all about someone engaging in an activity outside of school, and then returning work, so therefore they are positive.

Q: And the same thing with the exposure, is that in the schools or outside the schools?

Taylor: And so we haven’t had any cases where we have identified exposure in school. We’ve had people that have been in similar locations, outside of school at similar events, if you will, and then the person who’s attended that event tested positive and then another person may test positive who was at the same event. So, nothing has been transmitted at schools that we are aware. We will have situations where, when cases are identified at a location within a certain period of time, then it can be classified as an outbreak, even though it’s not an outbreak as a result of that location.

Q: So if I’m correct, the next phase of school was supposed to start yesterday with elementary with Plan A and high school and middle school started Plan B yesterday?

Taylor: Absolutely. So in Bladen County, we had our primary schools in which are pre-K through four, students would be able to come every day except for Wednesday, which is our deep cleaning day. And then they will not have the social distancing restriction within those classrooms, and then grades five through 12, they would come also on the 19th which was yesterday, A day and B day.

Q: So, is there any thought of maybe changing that, to go back, you know backwards a step, just because of everything that’s happened?

Taylor: What we’ve decided is that every time we make a change, it’ll be based on data and what’s available. And so at this point we don’t have any plans of changing what we’re doing with student attendance, or school attendance, but at any point the metrics change or where cases go up, or if we don’t have the available employees that we can hold school, then we would certainly make a change and move backwards if necessary.

Q: So, what kind of procedures are being done now thatthose three schools are closed? What’s being done inside since it’s empty?

Taylor: Well, the students are on virtual learning and so we want to remind everybody is it not that the school is infected, it is just a simple fact that we don’t have enough staff available to run the school and properly supervise children, and provide proper instruction in the face-to-face setting. So as a result we end up virtual. So those students are still in school and those teachers will still work, but it is all being done virtually like we did at the beginning of the year.

Q: So is the school being cleaned in some kind of way or anything?

Taylor: Yes, if there was any situation where we needed to go in and do deep cleaning we’ve done that. In many of the situations we haven’t had to do any cleaning at all. It’s the simple fact that those employees will either identify as positive, or they came to school, or they are identified in contact tracing. So we do daily cleaning. We do the deep cleaning on a Wednesday and anytime that we have a hot situation, then we will have a cleaning team to go in. So we’ve had hot cleaning situations at several junctures throughout the year. So I think the first was back in August and we have kind of gone through it after those times.

Q: Let’s say, you know, the two weeks is up and those employees haven’t tested negative yet. Are you going to extend the closure of the school?

Taylor: Well, that is the purpose of the two weeks that by the end of that period, they would have been cleared by the Health Department and would be in a situation where they can come back to school. So the only reason that we will make a change is if someone at that location contracted the virus or they were a primary for a case that may have had nothing to do with the school and then we wouldn’t have enough employees. So the example would be that I can go to a football game, and end up being positive and can’t return to work. I work at that location and that’s going to impact that location. And so as long as we have enough employees to operate smoothly, that’s what we are going to do.

Q: Are you having employees say that they are too scared to come and that’s why, and it’s not that necessarily that they’ve been exposed but that they’re scared to come back?

Taylor: Absolutely. People are scared all over the country and we certainly had employees to express their concerns about their safety. But what we’ve reassured them is that we’re taking all of the safety precautions, all the necessary protocols to make sure that they are safe. And I haven’t had a single employee to refuse to come to work. And so we want everyone to express their concerns, their feelings about being safe at work, but no one is refusing.

Q: How can parents help the school system and the teachers during this pandemic?

Taylor: What I would say to parents, is that when their children returned to school on the days that they are assigned, that they follow the protocol. That they do not send their children to school sick if you are aware and know that your child has an illness. One of the what we call identifying factors — cough, runny nose, whatever the case may be, fever — don’t send your children to school. Because situations that all schools run into are children that are sent to school by their parents. They will pass the temperature screening but they still have the other underlying conditions, and then we discover it, and we end up having to put children in isolation and try and get up with the parents.

So imagine if a parent is at work, it can be two or three hours before they get to that school to pick their child up. So I would say, follow protocols. Don’t send your children to school sick and employees in the school district, don’t come to work if you’re feeling sick. And this is what I would urge everybody in our community, whether it was with the school system, or with your private company, or whatever the case may be. If you are feeling sick, then you need to isolate yourself and do not put yourself around other people and put them in danger or at risk.

Valerie Newton, school spokeswoman: Dr. Taylor, I think that you also may want to emphasize the point that having staff out of the building is not entirely related to a COVID incident. We do have staff that are out, for other reasons so that is part of our factoring in whether a building can be fully staffed or not.

Taylor: And so when we think about employee availability, we have employees all out all the time that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID. If someone is on maternity leave, they’re going to be out anywhere from six to eight weeks. If someone has a medical condition, surgery, things of that nature that take place, then they’re going to be exercising what we call FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act. So that causes people to be out.

When we look at the availability of employees, we do want our community to understand that it is not 100 percent COVID. We could have six faculty members that are out at a large school, and then others that are out due to contact tracing or infections. And when you combine all of those things that makes it difficult for school to be able to supervise children.

We had a conversation with a principal yesterday and we probably brooded for nearly two hours to determine whether or not we were going to really try and open school and the principal tried as much as they could to figure out how we could have coverage. But when you have entire grade levels out, and only teacher at a grade level, it almost becomes impossible to have instruction and safely supervise children.

Q: I feel like this might be a concern for parents, you know, they rely on school, it’s kind of, you know, child care so that they can work. Does that become an issue with three schools closed, especially with the younger kids? I mean, is there anything being done to maybe watch those children so those parents can get to work?

Taylor: Parents will have to make those individual decisions about how they care for their children. That’s always a concern for us. But that is, there’s nothing that we can do specifically to try to address that issue, but there is always a concern.

Q: Has this always been the plan, from the beginning, if someone gets sick, this is how we’re going to do this?

Taylor: Yes. One of the early decisions that we made was, what is the actual threshold of how many people would have to be present in order for school to function? And so at any point we get to that threshold and go below, then it’s something that’s kind of out of our control. If we don’t have the necessary personnel to conduct schooling and properly supervise children, then we have to make that call to go back to virtual. And so that’s kind of been the plan all along, that it controls what mode we are in, how many people are available.

Q: So that number previously was 70 percent. Is that number still kind of holding?

Taylor: It is pretty much. It could be 72; it could be 69. It just really depends on who the people are. And so if we have a situation where an elective teacher or enhancement teacher is out, they can adjust it. But if we have, hypothetically, four core teachers at a grade level, and they’re all out, that creates a problem. And if we have a school where there’s only one teacher at a grade level, and they may teach multiple grade levels, if they are out, then that’s a problem. So if I think about a faculty that has 40 people, certified staff versus a faculty that has seven certified staff, those numbers mean different things. So, if they’re out, then you can’t function.

Q: What if, you know, just worst case scenario, you’re having to close, you know, once a week, you know, seems like once a week every couple weeks close schools. I mean, is that something that you’re willing to do or would there be a point where you’re just like, OK, we’ve got to shut down everything?

Taylor: We will make decisions on what we shut down from a total school perspective, and individual school perspective based totally on what the data shows. If we we have numbers getting so high that we have situations where it precipitates closing schools we will do so. If we end up closing one school, two schools, three schools, five schools, then those are the things we look at.

And so we have some schools, that you will say from a transportation perspective, that operate totally independent. They don’t share buses; they don’t share a whole bunch of teachers. And so that means that those one, two or three schools can close down but when we look at it holistically, and there are too many holes in the entire landscape, then we may end up having to close things down. So it just depends on what the metrics say at the time, and what the numbers say at the time.

Q: I mean, as everyone knows this is a very fluid situation and that no one is doing this with any kind of experience. What would you say maybe to remind those parents of students and the staff you know that you’re, you’re doing what you think is best judgment as far as, you know, everyone’s making sure everyone’s healthy and safe?

Taylor: You know I want to remind parents and the community that as a school district we’ve taken all the precautions that are necessary, and then some to make sure that their kids are safe. Teachers are involved in cleaning. Support staff are involved in cleaning, the maintenance department, the transportation department — and so we’re going to do those things that are necessary to make sure that when children come to school they are going to be safe, so we can see that we haven’t had any transmissions can take place as a result of the school district, and that means that people are coming to us being infected.

And so this is what I want to express to the entire community, to the whole region, to the state, to the nation if necessary, that when you go out into public you have got to take the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe. You have got to avoid being a part of what we call super-spreader events. People die. People get married. And we feel compelled to show up and show our support to help the family grieve, but we don’t recognize it and we don’t take specific kinds of precautions, and then we leave that group, and we are going to go to the grocery store, or we are going to go to Smithfield. We are going to whatever plant where me way work. We are going to come to school.

And we’re going to cause the dominos to begin the fall. So everybody has to recognize that we’re in the cold and flu season. These kinds of conditions are going to cause the virus to grow and spread, not only the COVID virus, but the flu virus as well. So go out, take your flu shot. Do what’s necessary to keep yourself safe. Continue to practice all the social distancing protocols. You can do all of those things, and still go out and buy groceries and pay bills and shop and do whatever it is that you need to do, but anytime that we become relaxed in those efforts, is going to cause us to be in a situation where we end up being infected or end up infecting other people. And what we found is that when we talk to people and begin to ask those questions, they immediately begin to recognize why they are positive. And this is a decision that they made.

Q: So you’re not exactly telling employees not to do things, but that you’re encouraging them to just be smart about it.

Taylor: Absolutely. You have to be smart about anything that you do. Having hand sanitizer. Meaning that you can wear a mask. You can socially distance at six feet. But if you really forget that I go to the ATM machine, and I punch my number in, and the person that was behind me did and did the same thing, and he left the virus, and I don’t spray hand sanitizer once I leave, then I am opening myself to the virus. I think we’ve all learned about where we place our hands, and you scratch your mouth, and those are the kind of things we now know spread the virus. So people have to be super vigilant, all the time. As long as we can do that, we’re going to end up being safe.

Q: And just so I am clear, you said it was no students, and just employees.

Taylor: That is correct. We’ve had some situations where students have been identified as positive or in the process of being positive, but those students haven’t actually been in the school. A lot of what we see is we’re notified before people come to school. But anytime that we’ve had to close a school is because those people have been identified as positive and we don’t have enough, or a person may have actually come to school, found out that they were positive and then through the contact tracing we find out that a whole host of individuals have to be out. And that could be students or employees. Those numbers are going to vary with who it may be.