Monday evening, members of the Superior Board of Education met in special session related to the Coronavirus-19 emergency. The hour long meeting was streamed live over Facebook so parents and students could follow the action. The board passed several resolutions. The first allows Supt. Marty Kobza, in counsel with the board president, Matt Sullivan, to pay bills without a general meeting of the board for the remainder of the school year. The others addressed sick leave and staff duties.
Students will not attend school starting Thursday (today) until Monday, April 1. However, every two weeks the situation will be evaluated and a decision will be made concerning school attendance for another two-week period based on recommendations from state officials.
School staff will continue to work. Cooks will prepare breakfast and lunch meals which transportation personnel will deliver to designated places in Hardy, Superior and Guide Rock. Parents will be asked to communicate with the school concerning needed meals.
Elementary teachers will communicate with parents via email and telephone. Junior and senior high school instructors will communicate with families using the students’ email addresses.
All junior and senior high school students will take computers home to use for enrichment study. Some elementary students will also have computers. However, there are some students who do not have access to the internet at home. Supplemental study will not count toward a student’s grade average. However, it will be designed to enhance classroom learning, so students will have not lost ground when they do return to school.
Should a staff member be required to be self-quarantined and then become ill with the Coronavirus-19, they would first use their sick leave and then still be compensated for additional sick leave related to Corona virus. The goal of the temporary change in sick leave is to encourage sick personnel to stay home.
Megan McMeen, the school nurse, talked about Coronavirus 19. She said, “Get your information from a reliable source.” She recommended the Center for Disease control (http://www.CDC.gov), the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (www.Dhhs.ne.gov) and University of Nebraska Medicine (UNMC) )www.nebraskamed.com). All of these websites can be accessed from the school page under the Coronavirus tab. There are also instructions there on talking with children about the virus.
Supt. Kobza emphasized people should check the school web page for the most current school information. He said, “Social media can be misleading. If someone reposts something on Facebook, it can be hard to know if the information is current.”
McMeen said, “Fortunately, most children are not getting sick with the virus. Older people are getting sick. However, the tricky part with the virus is that youth can spread it without showing any symptoms.”
Cornavirus-19 remains viral for several hours on stainless steel. Thus the emphasis on disinfecting door knobs and other frequently touched hard surfaces.
One source suggested it is viral two to three days on hard plastic and stainless steel, 24 hours on cardboard and several hours on porous material. Droplets from coughing and sneezing have been thought to be the primary way most people have become infected.
McMeen also discussed the current protocol used by Brodstone Memorial Hospital related to testing for Corona virus. Everyone is to call ahead if coronavirus is suspected. As of Monday, someone will bring a face mask to the patient’s car and hang it on a mirror. The patient, wearing a mask, will then be ushered into a negative air room via the emergency room entrance.
She emphasized proper hand washing as the primary defense against the virus.
The school’s webpage is superiorwildcats.org. The most current school information can be found by clicking on CornonaVirus Updates in the upper left hand corner.
Decisions related to prom, graduation and major school trips will be made by the middle of April and announced on the website.
“We are in unprecedented times,” Kobza said. “I hope people will be patient with us and help.”
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