Palmer High Update
Update on PHS COVID Status
Palmer High School has been in a yellow status for the last three weeks. The origin of this status was initiated when there was known widespread transmission in school. I have fielded questions about what changes this status, how does this status get established? The Health Advisory Committee meets every day at 4 pm. This committee is made up of public health leaders and district office leadership. They review transmission rates in schools, absenteeism in schools, and overall community transmission. These are the main variable that drive schools’ status. There is no magic number to determine this status. It is based on trends and recommendation from public health and the status of our public health care systems.
The districts webpage (https://www.matsuk12.us/coronavirus) will provide updates after the health advisory meeting at 6 pm in the evening. The dashboard provides new daily cases and cases in a seven-day period. These are cases that are reported of a student or staff that is infectious while in school. What the dashboard doesn't provide is the number of cases that are reported of students or staff that test positive but were already out because COVID is going through the household. These numbers remain high as do our community transmission. For this reason, Palmer High has remained at a yellow status.
A notice of exposure, that many parents are receiving, does not mean a student is considered a close contact. It means they were in a classroom where we had a report of a student or staff that was infectious while in school. It doesn't mean a student shouldn't attend school. The notice is meant to raise everyone's awareness so you can monitor more closely for COVID like symptoms. The department of health is bearing the burden of contact tracing, but the volume of cases in the community has been overwhelming so it makes it more imperative for families to pay close attention to symptoms at home.
Our hopes is, the spike of this wave of infections is nearing its end. I want to echo, that our primary goal is keep schools open. We thank you for your cooperation and support with these efforts.
High Rates of Absenteeism
We are experiencing a consistent pattern of student absenteeism. The average is around 25% on daily count for the school year. There could be a variety of reasons for student absences this time of year. The fair and moose hunts often play a big part in early school year absenteeism, but the pandemic is greatest variable when exploring the causes.
One of the first PHS Updates I encouraged parents to keep their students’ me when they are symptomatic. I believe families are doing a good job with following through with this encouragement. Communicable diseases run through public school settings because it is the largest gathering of bodies in our community, so I thank you for the follow through and thoughtfulness on this topic.
Ironically, this has led to more challenges with regards to student achievement. Teachers are very busy with large classes, a new schedule, and a greater demand to accommodate for our students that are absent from school. Our platform for keeping students up to speed with what is going on in their classes during their absence is google classroom.
The google classroom platform can achieve this in some subjects but is very difficult to achieve in other subjects. For example: in math the order of assignments is sequential and fall in line with the textbooks. In science, there are many hands-on activities and student-centered activities that cannot be replicated in the google classroom. Teachers are doing their best to keep everyone on the same page, but the reality is this won’t happen in every subject.
The schedule rotates from day to day, so teachers are experiencing a back log of parent and student emails. Teachers are struggling to respond in a timely manner. The general rule of thumb is 24 hours to respond, but with the rotating schedule I will ask for flexibility and patience to wait for 48 hours.
To support your child when they are out for extended periods of time, please encourage them to understand when you’re out for a few weeks, it will take an equal or greater amount of time to get caught up. Tell them to take a deep breath and focus on one task at a time. Tell them to use their 4 c's time wisely, and in time with perseverance they will catch up.