Education leaders ask for statewide mandate on COVID reporting in schools

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Education leaders said the state’s COVID notification requirements for schools are leaving teachers anxious and confused.

In Oklahoma, it’s up to each individual school district to decide how and when they let students and staff know about COVID cases in schools. However, some leaders are hoping the state will require schools to notify teachers and the public about COVID cases.

The start of the school year is always a bit nerve-wracking, but 2020 was a different challenge.

“We were anxious once we started the school year, but it’s gone very well,” said Bartlesville Superintendent, Chuck McCauley.

McCauley said, since starting in August, the district regularly publishes COVID data.

“We found for us, it works best for our community, our parents to make sure they have that accurate information,” said McCauley.

“In 26 years, you’ve gone through quite a bit of historical times here in Oklahoma, but my gosh, 2020 has got to be one for the books,” said Newschannel 8’s, Maureen Wurtz.

“Yes, it’s exhausting,” said Alicia Priest.

Priest is president of the Oklahoma Education Association. She said what’s been exhausting lately is how each and every school district reports COVID cases.

In Bartlesville, the district breaks it down with the number of positive cases, where the cases were at, and the number of students and staff in quarantine. However, that’s not the norm statewide.

“Every school district gets to decide how they want to tell, who they want to tell and when they want to tell,” said Priest.

Priest said state law requires districts to notify their local health department and the state health department about any COVID cases and exposures. However, they don’t have to put that information out to the public. She said, that leaves teachers and families guessing.

“There’s no uniform mandated policy for notification, whether it’s to the teachers that are in the building or to the community at large,” said Priest.

Priest said, the department of Education is asking for schools to report COVID cases in schools, but school districts aren’t required to.

“They don’t have to notify the State Department of Education when they have positive tests, which makes it really hard for our state department of education to put together plans to help out different districts and things like that,” said Priest.

Priest said, the Department of Education can’t create a state law that would require this, only state leaders can.

“It’s a really scary time (for teachers),” said Priest.

For McCauley, the idea that the district should publish the information was something he knew they needed to do in order to bring kids back and keep families informed.

“That’s just the reality is as these cases come up, you have to deal with them, because that’s our goal is to stay in person,” said McCauley.