Geneva D-304 Supt. won’t put student quarantine info on district’s COVID dashboard – unless directed by school board

GENEVA – After public comment during Monday’s Geneva District 304 meeting – that included asking why the district’s COVID dashboard page did not include students on quarantine – Superintendent Kent Mutchler said he would not do it unless the school board specifically directed him to do so.

The board did not act to direct Mutchler to do that Monday night.

One of the issues raised at the meeting was that Geneva students are sent into quarantine for 14 days after contact tracing shows an exposure. Mutchler said the district was following the Illinois Department of Public Health’s guidelines for 3 feet of distance being safe. But if there is an exposure to COVID, contact tracing covers everyone at 6 feet – and then all those students are sent home to quarantine for 14 days.

Geneva High School student Grace Snider, reading a statement from another student, told the school board, “It isn’t like one student is being sent home – 37 were sent home in a single day.”

“Isn’t it ironic that this new (in-person) schedule, with the intent of giving kids more face time with their teachers and better education, is so flawed that it is doing the opposite, by getting them exposed to COVID and sending them home for two weeks to learn online,” Snider read.

Another speaker, Paula Merrington, said she would appreciate additional COVID-related data to be published on the district’s dashboard.

“Kaneland (District 302) and Elmhurst (District 205) currently publish that information,” Merrington said, regarding the number of students in quarantine. “I would appreciate any additional information added to the dashboard, particularly the absences.”

Board member Leslie Juby said the district should be consistent with other school districts that put their quarantine numbers on their COVID dashboards.

“I very much think that we need to be doing that,” Juby said. “Which gives rise to my next question, how many kids do we have in quarantine right now? I know we don’t have very many cases, but how many kids has that affected?”

Mutchler challenged that.

“We don’t know how that is helpful information,” Mutchler said.

“It would make us consistent with our peers, that’s all,” Juby said.

“No, because we had the first dashboard before those other schools that you mentioned,” Mutchler said. “We are consistent with what we’ve done.”

Juby said she thought it would be helpful to know how many students are out on quarantine at any given time, and how many come back to school afterward.

“Unless that is something the board wants, then I need to take that to the administrative team to see if that is something to share. That would occupy a great deal of time to accomplish that, which is part of the reason that that was not being prepared for any dashboard information,” Mutchler said.

“With the things we are dealing with, our resources are already spread thin. And if the entire board wants that – and you want us to allocate resource time for that – we will certainly do that, at the pleasure of the board,” Mutchler said

Board President Taylor Egan said there is a level of transparency with the number of students who are out of school on quarantine because of COVID exposure.

“I don’t know how the other board members feel. I know that when we talk about that number, I think that’s a little bit eye-opening in how the state – quite frankly – is failing us at the district level in their refusal to shift from that 3-foot, 6-foot guideline,” Egan said. “I do think that that number (of quarantined students) is important to board members as we continue to move forward in our decision making,”

“Which is why I’ve shared that with you as board members,” Mutchler said, of student quarantine numbers. “And I’ve also shared that with Kane County Health Department to make the argument that, ‘Look what this inconsistent guideline is doing to our students.’”

Mutchler said he met with the Kane County Health Department earlier that day to talk about the inconsistencies in the guidelines.

“They were telling us there was minimal chance of contracting COVID within 3-foot distancing if all students are masked and proper guidelines are followed,” Mutchler said. “But then, insisting on all students within a 6-foot radius be contact-traced. And so my question to the Kane County Health Department is, why is that inconsistent? Why is it safe … at 3 feet, then we have to contact trace at 6 feet? … They are unwilling to clarify that.”

In an email, Kane County Health Department spokeswoman Susan Stack referred to page three of the Illinois Department of Public Health updated guidance, stating, “Additionally, IDPH is revising the recommendation for social distancing for in-person learning.”

“Social distance for in-person learning is now defined as 3 to 6 feet for students and fully vaccinated staff. Maintaining 6 feet remains the safest distance, but schools can operate at no less than 3 feet in order to provide in-person learning,” Stack’s email stated, regarding the state’s guidance.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s direction on quarantine, “Close contacts necessitating quarantine if exposed to a confirmed case continue to be defined as having been within 6 feet of the confirmed case for a cumulative time period of 15 minutes over 24 hours and not fully vaccinated.”

Mutchler said the district’s COVID positive levels are not much higher now than they were prior to spring break.

“But we have – as some of the speakers have said – many students that are out for each positive case, that are out because of the contact tracing requirement of 6 feet,” Mutchler said. “So naturally, when you don’t change that guideline, and you put more people in a room, you’re going to have more people sent out if there is a positive case.”