Information about how many USD 257 students are quarantined because of COVID-19 may be available in the near future.
Some school districts, including Chanute and Yates Center, post such information on their websites.
USD 257 Superintendent Stacey Fager said he plans to ask board members at their next meeting on Sept. 13 to consider posting similar statistics.
The district recently developed a database with that information, but intended to use it for internal decision making. The board will be updated twice a week.
When asked if it could be shared publicly, Fager said he agreed it could be helpful.
“How we share information helps people feel comfortable with decisions the district is making,” he said.
The database comes from a similar program the district shares with the Allen County Health Department. The district helps the health department identify which students may have been in close contact with someone infected by COVID-19, for quarantine purposes.
For the school board’s use, administrators took identifying personal information out of the program and left only the numbers of students and staff quarantined in each building. That is the information that would potentially be shared with the public.
At Marmaton Valley, Superintendent Kim Ensminger said the district did not post such information and did not plan to do so.
Humboldt’s website also does not show such statistics.
The Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Departments shares a weekly update on the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in each of its four counties. In Allen County this week, there were 59 positive cases.
