Ensuring the health and safety of our Team & Family is a top priority at IDEA Public Schools, and we believe it is best to operate with an abundance of caution and transparency at this time. This is a chart of the number of positive cases of COVID-19 among students and staff who have been on campus for a specific week. You can search for a specific region, sort within each column, and access data for specific weeks. We report this information to the TEA on a weekly basis; they are monitoring the number of positive cases across school districts in Texas and update the information on the Texas Department of Health and Human Services website.

If there is a positive student or staff case on campus, all staff and families of close contacts are notified of the positive case through a phone call or a Remind message. We will inform families of the next steps that we are taking to protect others in the building from potential spread. Upon learning of a positive diagnosis, we work closely with the local health department in the decision-making process and the contact tracing process. Additionally, we take a quick assessment of which rooms and areas the individual was in within the last 24 hours and thoroughly clean and disinfect those areas.

Depending on the case investigation and guidance from the local health department, we may close down specific room(s) and area(s) in which the individual was on campus for a specific time, dismiss all students and staff early, or close the entire building to disinfect the entire building thoroughly. Finally, based on the contact tracing process and consultation with the local health department, we may inform additional staff members and families that they need to quarantine for 14 days as recommended by the local health department. Due to HIPAA considerations, we are cannot share more details about the individual’s diagnosis, but rest assured we are taking the proper steps to protect our students and staff from any potential spread.

For any positive case, we work closely with the local health department and we take the proper and recommended steps to protect our students and staff from any potential spread. You can use the resources that we have created to determine if you want your scholar to attend school on-site or in a remote environment. Families can use SchoolCap to directly and transparently view how many people are in their scholar’s school at all times. Remember, it takes a community to keep us all protected. Each parent or guardian can log into SchoolCap to select if their student is or isn’t coming to a physical school location so that after our staff experts verify these numbers,  families will have clear insight into what percentage capacity the school is. It only takes 30 seconds to put your scholar’s choice into SchoolCap. SchoolCap presents the region’s recommended building capacity based on IDEA’s School Reopening Phases and Protocols.

It takes a community and collective effort to protect each other. We all play a role in keeping ourselves, our loved ones, and our Team & Family safe. This means that all of us must follow the expert-recommended health and safety protocols:

• Monitor your health daily and stay alert for symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19.
• Stay home if you are sick and follow CDC guidelines for social distancing and self-quarantine.
• Wear a mask—covering your nose and mouth—at all times.
• Practice proper hand hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds frequently.
• Maintain 6-feet of physical distance between others who are not in your household.  
• Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick or anyone outside your immediate household. The best way to prevent illness is to avoid and limit being exposed the virus.
• Use recommended resources like the CDC’s Coronavirus Self-Checker to determine when to seek testing or medical care.
• Immediately contact the school if you are awaiting test results or receive a lab-confirmed positive test result, or if you have been in close contact with someone who is awaiting results or is a positive case. It is important for the communication among all of us to be transparent and informative.

You can access our most up-to-date information and resources, our health and safety protocols, and links to the CDC and state health departments on our website’s Health Services page as well as our school re-opening website.