The West Ada School District needs to rethink the way it handles and releases COVID-19 case numbers, the district’s teachers’ union said in a statement Friday.
The statement comes as the state deals with an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, including a rapid increase in cases involving school-aged children.
“Like the (Central District Health), the school district has been given an impossible/unprecedented task of tracking a complex and inconsistently reported disease without the appropriate tools or training, resulting in a distorted picture,” the West Ada Education Association said in its statement. “Therefore, we call upon the CDH, West Ada administration and board of trustees to reconsider how they collect and report information for full transparency and an accurate representation of the risks involved in continuing in-person education at a heightened point in this global pandemic.”
The state’s largest school district publishes coronavirus case numbers on an online dashboard. The dashboard includes active cases over the past five days.
The district’s numbers can fluctuate wildly.
On Monday afternoon, the district reported 179 active cases, dating back to Wednesday — 155 cases involving students, and 24 involving staff. Early Monday morning, the district reported only 55 active cases.
The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Here, in full, is the union’s statement:
“The members of the West Ada Education Association believe that in-person learning is extremely important for our students. We know that the safe environment offered by public schools is the best place for many students to learn. For these reasons, we support the establishment of multi-layered mitigation measures to curtail the rise of COVID infections in West Ada schools. These measures include but are not limited to, universal mask-wearing and full vaccination, frequent hand washing, consistent testing of students and staff, safe distancing, thorough cleaning, and proper ventilation of school buildings. If done properly, these measures are shown to significantly reduce the spread of the virus.
“Individual decisions of whether to utilize these precautions, however, are made on an accurate understanding of the risk at any given time. Part of how one determines individual risk in our schools is based on the dashboard provided by the district of the number of active cases therein. Like the (Central District Health), the school district has been given an impossible/unprecedented task of tracking a complex and inconsistently reported disease without the appropriate tools or training, resulting in a distorted picture. Therefore, we call upon the CDH, West Ada administration and board of trustees to reconsider how they collect and report information for full transparency and an accurate representation of the risks involved in continuing in-person education at a heightened point in this global pandemic.
“Finally, we believe it is essential for school staff, school leadership, and the community to work together to ensure the creation of a safe learning environment for all students and educators.”
