Episode 27: The Coronavirus – Schools, Student and Parent Preparedness

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. In this special edition of the Supercast. We want to make you aware of what Jordan School District is doing in cooperation with the Salt Lake County Health Department to plan for the Coronavirus or COVID-19 and to help prevent the spread of disease and keep students, faculty and staff healthy. This episode of the Supercast was recorded on March 2, 2020. And the information presented is current. As of that date, we'll hear from Salt Lake County Health Department, Epidemiology Manager, Eileen Risk regarding COVID 19. We'll also speak with Director of Custodial Services, Steve Peart about what's being done in schools to help prevent the spread of disease and illness. And we'll speak with Ross Menlove about the digital learning capacities that are built-in here at Jordan School District. Joining us now on the Supercast is Salt Lake County Epidemiologist, Eileen Risk. Thank you very much for taking the time. Can we just start by asking, what would you like parents to know about Coronavirus?

Eileen:
I think it's important for parents to understand that while this is a new virus and it's a novel virus, so that's scary. But the thing to keep in mind is, there are some real simple steps that parents can take to prevent spread of respiratory illnesses, including Coronavirus and including Influenza. And those are good hand-washing, frequently and thoroughly.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I know it might seem obvious to just ask how to wash your hands, but are there some specific tips on how to wash your hands thoroughly to be sure that diseases stop?

Eileen:
Definitely. It's very important when you're washing your hands. Some people sing a song in their head or out loud, depending if they can sing, but make sure that you wash your hands for 20 seconds and that you suds up. It's the friction when you're washing your hands. Make sure that you wash the tips of your fingers, your thumbs, in between your fingers, up through your watch, take off any rings, or if you're wearing them, get underneath the rings. The duration is really important.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the duration and really washing every area of your hands. How frequently should you be washing your hands or when should you be washing your hands?

Eileen:
That's a very good point. The other thing I want parents to recognize is that with hand washing is a good prevention measure, but it's also important to stay home when you are sick and it's always important to wash your hands after you've sneezed or coughed so hopefully you aren't exposing other people if you're ill. So you're in your own home, but you're making sure that you wash your hands after you sneeze or cough. It's important to wash your hands before you eat and after you use the bathroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wash your hands before you eat and after you use the restroom. Now you mentioned staying home. If you have symptoms, what are the symptoms that parents ought to be watching for to keep their child home?

Eileen:
That's very challenging because with Coronavirus. COVID-19 is the designation for this virus, the clinical disease. They need to watch for symptoms of fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. Those are fairly common symptoms. So a lot of different illnesses might present with those symptoms. So it's hard to know whether or not it's influenza or another respiratory pathogen, but if the child is sick it's important to contact their healthcare provider. And it's a good idea to not just show up at the health care provider if they have those symptoms, but to call ahead and then the health care provider can instruct them as far as when they're coming in. They might want to put them in an isolated room, put on a mask. If they're coughing, it's always a good idea. It's also important to recognize that right now, with our situation, as it's probably a lot more common, if they've had some sort of known exposure, that's going to change in a hurry. We expect community transmission, but for right now, as far as if a child presented with those symptoms, some of the questions that we would ask as public health is, have you traveled to any of the areas where we know there is known sustained community transmission? Have you had contact with someone who has traveled that may be under investigation as having COVID-19? Those are good indicators that would kind of ratchet up the concern level for a parent.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if a parent finds that their child has those symptoms, they should keep them home. They should call their health care provider. And one of the additional questions will be related to whether there is some level of exposure through travel or through contact with someone who has traveled. Is that correct?

Eileen:
Yes, that's correct. And then they help the provider.  With those lists of symptoms would test for a variety of more commonly seen things they're circulating in our community right here in Salt Lake County now, including influenza and other respiratory pathogens. If all of those tests negative, then depending on the risk factors associated with the child, we might move on to testing for COVID-19. But currently the testing around this virus is very stripped. And so there has to be some sort of risk-based exposure. We're not just routinely testing people who present with those symptoms.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if you have the symptoms, but there's no reason to believe that been exposed, you wouldn't necessarily be tested unless everything else was eliminated as a possibility.

Eileen:
That's correct. And that's why we do think, especially a fair number of people that have this disease don't have really severe symptoms. Some do, but a lot have very mild symptoms and so that's why it could be missed and not recognized. But that's also why we have to find that balance because of the resources we need to make sure that we have the testing capability for the people who are truly at risk.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see. So it is reserving testing capability for when you really have those populations through, right?

Eileen:
For right now, because the testing is limited. We hope in the future, there will be a commercial test and it will probably be just part of it. Right now, there's a panel of tests for when somebody presents with respiratory illness, at some point that might be added to that panel.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we talked about people being at risk. I've heard that children are less at risk than some other populations. Can you speak to that please?

Eileen:
We're not quite sure. The data around this virus is still being compiled to better understand age-specific risk factors, but there have been a handful of children that recently tested positive across the globe. Clearly, most of the cases have occurred among adults and we're especially aware of the adults that have more severe illness. Those tend to be our more senior population or people that have other risk factors or other co-morbidities like diabetes or heart disease.

Anthony Godfrey:
I started the last question with "I've heard" and there's a lot of rumors going around and there is a lot of speculation. Where would you say parents ought to go for the best, most reliable, most up-to-date information about what's happening?

Eileen:
So the best place to research information, there's a couple places and one is Salt Lake County Health Department website. The reason that's a good place is we link all of our information to the Center for Disease Control, which is he premiere place to look for information. If a parent is more interested and wants to dig a little bit deeper from a global perspective, the World Health Organization has an excellent website.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and Salt Lake County Health. Those are three sources for good information.

Eileen:
Yes. Those three, as well as the Utah Department of Health.

Anthony Godfrey:
We read about other countries where school has been closed or public gatherings have been limited. If that were to happen in Utah, and obviously it has not happened yet, but if that were to happen at some point, how would that information come out? Who would be the authority that would make that decision?

Eileen:
So we would take that information very seriously and it would be based upon our epidemiological information we're collecting. We're doing that on a daily basis. We're continuing to monitor people right now. We're looking at their factors, where they'd been, we're continuing to assess any commonalities. And so we would piece that together. And as a local health department, as far as quarantining or shutting down massive events, not going to movies, not going to church, not going to school would come is a a directive from Salt Lake County Health Department. So our local health officer would have the ability, based upon good sound evidence, to make that decision. And then that would be communicated very quickly to the right people, to the right superintendents in the school districts.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. And I've always appreciated the process in working with Salt Lake County Health. You've always been very responsive to our questions and done a great job of providing a consistent and systematic means of providing information so that everyone has the right information and the same information at the same time. So I would anticipate that would be the same in case there's any problem.

Eileen:
Yes, we definitely would want to make sure, from a consistency standpoint, that we're all on the same page and we'd release that information at the same time with a heads-up to all of the people that need to know agencies, our partners, our health care providers, as well as provide that information to the public through the media. And we would continue to assess this as we go through it. This is not the first pandemic that we've been involved with. In 2009, you know, we were heavily involved with the influence of pandemic. And we continued to exercise pandemic preparedness on a regular basis.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to families who are experiencing a high level of anxiety around the possibility of COVID-19 affecting their family.

Eileen:
Parents with a lot of anxiety? My best advice advice would be to rely on credible sources of information. Facebook, some of the social media, aren't always the most credible source of information. So I would take a deep breath and really think whether or not their children are at risk. And so far, we haven't had a single case where exposure has occurred in Utah.

Anthony Godfrey:
We talked about personal hygiene, but is there a level of cleaning that ought to be happening in the home to help prevent the spread of disease as well?

Eileen:
Whenever anyone's sick with respiratory illness, it's important to make sure, in addition to the good hand washing, the things we've talked about and self isolation, that any touch surfaces are cleaned. There's not really a magic answer for how often, but just thorough cleaning as you would typically do in your household and washing linens frequently, and making sure that any kind of light switches, remotes, anything where somebody might touch it and someone else might come along and touch the same piece of equipment, that those things are cleaned. I wouldn't go overboard because you can get pretty fanatic about cleaning, but it's just important to have things is germ-free as possible.

Anthony Godfrey:
We've been with Eileen Risk, Epidemiologist with Salt Lake County Health Department. If parents want more information, where can they go?

Eileen:
So the parents can visit http://saltlakecityhealth.org for information for Salt Lake County Health Department. And that will also link them to the Centers for Disease Control.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much. I'm sure you're very busy at Salt Lake County Health, and we really appreciate your taking the time to be with us.

Eileen:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, Jordan School District Director of Custodial Services, Steve Peart will join us.

Break:
Do you want ideas for being happier and healthier? I'm McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness Specialist for Jordan School District. Please join us every week for Wellness Wednesday. We do a feature on the Jordan School District website that offers free and simple tips for improving your health and wellness. We cover a variety of topics like reducing stress, better eating habits, and finding more time to build better relationships. Check out Wellness Wednesday every week on the Jordan School District website at http://jordandistrict.org For additional health and wellness resources, visit http://wellness.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're joined now by Steve Peart, the Director of Custodial and Energy Services for Jordan School District. Steve, can you tell us a little bit about the routine cleaning that is done in schools of all levels?

Steve:
Okay. Well, for the routine cleaning, we have job cards for all of the sweepers and full-time staff and those job cards take them through, step-by-step what should be done every day.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very organized.

Steve:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is it the JCOS system that evaluates whether those procedures are being followed?

Steve:
Yes, it is. It's we call it the JCOS, which is Jordan Custodial Operating System.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very structured, right down to the minute what's expected, how much time should be spent on each task. And there's routine cleaning that helps prevent the spread of illness and disease. Can you tell us about some of the routines that help prevent it?

Steve:
Yes. For example, what we call  light duty specialists, if you look down the instructions on their routines, number five says disinfected phones in assigned area, and it says spray disinfected on the cloth and then wipe down the phones. Number six is disinfect classroom sinks and drinking fountains. Number eight says disinfect all classroom doors, door knobs, switches, and places that the public would touch.

Anthony Godfrey:
So there's a very deliberate process to clean up those high touch areas.

Steve:
Yes. And then when we go out to inspect building, we will look at door knobs, door casings because a lot of times the kids will grab the door casing to swing around the door. So we make sure that those areas have been cleaned.

Anthony Godfrey:
I can picture that. Yeah.

Steve:
So there are a lot of areas that just get this regular routine cleaning, but when there's something more intense, sometimes when we've been concerned about a particular school, there is a fogging procedure that we've used before.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's kind of fascinating to really clean the entire school at a deeper level. Tell me more about that.

Steve:
Yeah. If the Department of Health tells us about concern, the next level of cleaning would be we'd go in and we can fog that building and go through the classrooms, go through the buses and that's the next level of cleaning. And that would be recommended from the Health Department.

Anthony Godfrey:
What particular procedures involved? Is it a special machine?

Steve:
Yeah. It's just like a handheld sprayer. We also have a backpack that we can use and it just puts out a very fine mist. As you walk into the room, you'll spray from the inner most part of the room and back out as you spray that room.

Anthony Godfrey:
And on rare occasion, when there has been an issue at a school we've been able to clean the entire school and ensure that it's safe.

Steve:
Yes. We've done that before on schools. We've also done it on buses.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's done as a precaution under the direction of Salt Lake County Health.

Steve:
If the Health Department contacts us and says there's a particular health issue at a school, we can go into what we'd call the next level of disinfecting. And that's where we use the foggers to go in and fog the classroom or the school bus or the entire building, if needed.

Anthony Godfrey:
What substance is used in the fogger.

Steve:
The fogger has a disinfectant in it. It's designed to be able to disinfect around surfaces. So for example, if I was to hold my phone here and spray it, it would also wrap around and hit the back of the phone. So it can go places that would take hundreds of hours to physically wipe down. It can cover the entire room.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you've done this, like you said, with classrooms, entire schools, buses as necessary. How do we protect custodians and sweepers from getting sick themselves, as they're cleaning up?

Steve:
Each task that a custodian or sweeper is assigned to do, we'll have a level of personal protective equipment that is required for that task. And the district provides that equipment for each one of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Depending on the task and depending on the chemical that's being used, there is equipment to help keep the employee safe from infection themselves.

Steve:
That's correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
All the cleaning that you've described and all of the procedures you've described from disinfecting to fogging clean up, what's already there, but really the best preventative measure is hand-washing.

Steve:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so there's going to be a lot more hand-washing hopefully because that's what's being encouraged, 20 seconds, at least. And we want more and more people to be washing their hands more frequently. That means we need more supplies. How are we for paper towels and soap and supplies in general for cleaning?

Steve:
The warehouse generally keeps stocked with several months ahead of what we need. But in addition to that, we've ordered even more for to stockpile.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we already have plenty of lead and we've ordered even more. We appreciate Steve Peart taking the time to join us up next. We'll talk about our online curriculum and ability to provide instruction to students staying at home, if necessary.

Break:
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Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome back to the Supercast. We have with us today Ross Menlove, Administrator over Digital Learning in the Teaching and Learning Department. And he's here to talk with us about how the District has prepared to provide digital learning, if that's necessary, in case of an outbreak in Utah of the Coronavirus. But really, in lots of other circumstances, just to provide flexibility to parents and students, if for some reason students were required to stay home because of a Coronavirus outbreak, or some other issue, we're well positioned to provide deep, meaningful learning from home.

Ross Menlove:
Exactly. We're pretty much, I would say, one of the most prepared Districts in the State to be able to provide continued instruction to students and students wouldn't would not miss a beat of that core-level of knowledge that they need to progress in their learning. They would have that right there at home and teachers are trained enough to be able to do that right away.

Anthony Godfrey:
And in addition to having that Digital Specialist at each school, we also have a variety of digital experts at the District level that can provide additional support to teachers.

Ross:
Exactly. My team works really closely with every school, providing interactions with every principal and all the teachers. And we could easily push out content within a matter of minutes and hours to be able to train teachers easily on what to do and how to go about providing that content.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ross, can you just give us a little bit of an overview of kind of the training that's happened and some of the options that are available to teachers that can allow them to teach remotely online?

Ross:
Yes, that's a great question. This last year, when we had the previous snow day for 2019, we provided a blended learning course for teachers and pretty much every teacher in Jordan District participated in that course. And as we looked at that, what we decided for this year, we have transitioned our professional development to be more of a school-based professional development. So we are currently, we have a teacher at every single school in Jordan District that is a Digital Teacher Leader. They're a specialist in digital learning. They come and get trained from us each month to be able to use different digital learning and blended learning techniques and teaching tools within the classroom. And we've seen a huge jump in the number of people that are trained in digital learning. An example would be, we have hundreds of teachers every month that are currently participating in training that could be used if students were not at the school physically, but they could still continue their learning at home.

Anthony Godfrey:
So every teacher received blended learning training through a Blended Learning Course last year as a baseline. But we also have hundreds of teachers and more and more teachers receiving additional, advanced digital learning support and training so that they can expand their use of digital learning. And beyond that, we have a teacher that's assigned to every school, that's a specialist.

Ross:
Exactly. And about half of our school principals at all levels have participated in a Blended and Digital Learning Course for Administrators. So they're able to lead different activities for teachers to participate in faculty meetings or different trainings that they're providing to their staff. So pretty much every teacher in Jordan District is participating currently in some form of blended learning, either through their school, through the District trainings, whatever it might be, they've all have examples of using it. And they've all participated as a student and also as a teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's a good point. Participating as a student and as a teacher gives you a different perspective, what the student experience is like and what the teacher experiences.

Ross:
Exactly, they're able for themselves to evaluate on their end. What would good teaching look like if it was completely online and what is good teaching looks like if I use different parts of blended learning and technology within the classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now we have a number of different platforms and programs that are available to us to help enhance online learning. Can you describe a few of those?

Ross:
Exactly. We use a couple of different learning management systems, there's Google Classroom, and then also Canvas within each of these learning management systems. There's ways for students to interact with a teacher and also for students to interact with students. The great thing about çanvas and a learning management system is we're allowing kids to be able to design and create their own content. They're not just getting on and consuming more content. They're being active creators of their own content. Being able to share their learning, being able to provide feedback in real time. A couple other tools that we really focus quite a bit on this year is Adobe. Every one of our students in Jordan District from seventh grade up has free access to Adobe.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Adobe is not just creating PDFs. Adobe as a way to provide interactive instruction. Can you describe that a little bit more?

Ross:
Yeah. So they all have access to the Adobe Creative Suite. So they get Photoshop, they get Illustrator and they can go on and create their version of the content that the teacher is asking, but do it in their own way and create that and be able to get trained in a product that they could use those skills in different areas, not just only at school, but also in their own life, in their own interest.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about Google Classroom and Canvas, which are two ways to create courses and classroom experiences online. I know we also have access to Nearpod as a District. Can you tell me what Nearpod is involves?

Ross:
Nearpod, what they've done is taken a traditional PowerPoint and now they've made the students an interactive piece within that PowerPoint. So instead of the student just sitting there watching the teacher go through the PowerPoint slide, the student now is an active participant in that PowerPoint. So the teacher might share some information. And then the next slide, the student participates in an activity where they either, they might draw their thinking or they might respond to a question. A great example would be like with math. So the teacher might teach them like a math concept. Then the next slide they have to draw their thinking.

Anthony Godfrey:
They have to draw. What would that look like for them or with reading?

Ross:
They have to read a passage and highlight different parts within that text. So Nearpod allows for creativity. And we just, this last month we did a Nearpod, a Palooza for Jordan District and we had over a hundred teachers come one day and all of them were trained on Nearpod, not just the basics. But also just advanced and how to use that tool to interact with students. So students are active participants in their learning.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about Canvas earlier and one of the aspects of Canvas that I like, and perhaps this is true of other programs as well, parents can get involved and they can be logged in right along with the student and be very involved in their child's school.

Ross:
Exactly. You know, we have Canvas and parents can see what's happening. They can see what's being what, whether students are doing the same with Nearpod, all the Nearpods. We would push out parents get access to those Nearpods and see what the learning is. And they could be active participants with their child in being able to go through the content and be able to ask them questions. And the wonderful thing is that with technology and with Canvas and as parents work with that, with their kids, the parents were able to see the type of questions and the type of learning so they can help. They can take those questions and use them in other areas of life and other times where they have conversations with their children.

Anthony Godfrey:
Allowing parents to be involved at a deeper level in a child's learning rather than simply logging on to a Skyward and looking up grades and that sort of thing. Parents can really be involved in the content and see where a student may be struggling and provide some help.

Ross:
Exactly. It allows parents to be right next to them, and also learning with them. That's a great thing with the digital content is the parents can also participate in it.

Anthony Godfrey:
We appreciate the work you've done in the last few years, Ross, moving us forward in digital learning and in our capability and helping provide that flexibility for students and teachers. And hopefully we won't need to use it a districtwide in the case of an emergency, but if we do, we're well-prepared to do so.

Ross:
Well, thank you. You know, I think the message that we communicate to teachers every time we meet with them is we want students to become active creators, using technology right. Not just passive consumers. When they use technology, when it comes to learning and teaching here in Jordan District, they're actively creating. They're showing their learning in different ways and in ways that have never been done before. But in ways that are needed as they continue through their life, especially with the increases in technology and what's expected of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great way of putting it. Active creators versus passive consumers. Thanks very much, Ross.

Ross:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks to everyone for being part of this special edition of the Supercast and thanks to parents for supporting our efforts as Jordan School District works to keep students and staff healthy in a productive learning environment. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.