BY ANDY GARDNER & JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

School superintendents from around St. Lawrence County are keeping tabs on the COVID-19 pandemic and working closely with state and county public health officials as they prepare for the virus to work its way north.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19, also known as novel coronavirus or simply coronavirus, a global pandemic on Wednesday, March 11. As of that day, disease had killed about 30 people in the United States and had been diagnosed in about 1,000, according to national news reports. Worldwide, the death toll had gone over 4,300 and the number of known cases is over 121,000, USA Today reported.

“There’s a combination of a lot of different strategies, from education to enhanced cleaning. We’re keeping an eye on the info coming in from Public Health … on a variety of issues, including events that are going to be coming up,” Massena Central Superintendent Pat Brady said. “No decisions have been made at this time for any of the events. I think you’ll see there’s a dance coming up, that would be considered non-essential, we would postpone those or cancel them.”

He said for larger events, such as class trips and the spring musical production, school officials are “still taking that under advisement. We are hoping to hear more from Public Health on all of that.”

In Ogdensburg Superintendent Kevin Kendall said his administrative team was meeting to review and revise plans in the event of a school closure. He said they are calling off events that may draw a large crowd

“I have canceled anything where there’s 50 or more attending from the public, such as OCP theater productions, a youth wrestling tournament,” Kendall said Thursday, March 12.

He said they are asking teachers to come up with 15-day contingency plans in case they are forced to close school.

“We’re communicating with families as well as staff what we know now, what maintenance is doing … we are meeting and determine next course of action with regard to if we were to have a long-term closure. We’re going to have a 15-day contingency plan for all teachers for instructional purposes,” Kendall said.

He noted that under normal conditions, teachers are required to have five-day contingency plans in place “so this is just adding 10 days.”

Norwood-Norfolk Superintendent Jamie Cruikshank said they are also preparing for possibly having to hold online classes.

"At this point, any plans for online/distance learning would only be put in place for a school closing, not for a school closure. If we deploy online/distance learning, please know that we would provide time for teachers to prepare before we notify parents that lessons are ready for students to access," he said in an email Thursday. Any decision to close school and/or cancel large events will not be made at the local level, but will, instead, be made following guidance of the Department of Health and/or State Education Department. These decisions will be made on a case-by-case, school district-by school district basis."

“We are currently examining options for online learning should a closure occur,” PCS Superintendent Joann Chambers said in a statement to the school community. “We are still in the information gathering stage and details have yet to be determined. As part of our planning process, parents will be receiving communication from OneCall in the next few days as we are trying to assess if our students have access to the internet at home. We would appreciate it if you could respond to this one-question survey. We will be reaching out by phone to those families who did not respond to the survey,” Potsdam Central Superintendent Joanne Chambers said Thursday. “We understand that the uncertainty surrounding this ever-evolving situation causes anxiety among our school community,” the statement said. “However, we want to assure our community that there is no need to panic. We are working diligently to prevent the spread of illness in our schools and we will continue to communicate with parents, staff, and the public and share updates as information becomes available.”

Rebekah Mott, a spokeswoman for St. Lawrence-Lewis County BOCES, said that all 18 component districts are working closely with the St. Lawrence County Department of Health and following all guidance by the New York State Department of Education and NYS Department of Health, as well as recommendations by the CDC.

“Although St. Lawrence County is geographically large, our districts’ reliance on shared services preclude isolation from their neighbors. Therefore, the BOCES and all 18 component districts are working together to ensure the health and safety of all students and staff across the county,” she said.

Mott said that if a case is detected in a school, the school will close for a 24 hour period for disinfecting and investigation into the contacts among staff and students.

She said any decisions to close will be made by public health and not school districts and that if an investigation determines that there has been widespread contact within a school, that school will close for a 14-day period.

Meanwhile school custodial staffers are on the front lines of taking measures to keep COVID-19 at bay.

“We’ve moved some shifts so we have more staff on during the day. There is a set disinfecting protocol they’re using. The day crew is going around three times a day and wiping down door handles and other surfaces, bathroom faucets,” Brady said. “The night crew has also enhanced their cleaning as well.

“We are also purchasing … hand sanitizer dispensers for around our buildings.”

To encourage sick students to stay away from school, Massena has suspended their attendance perk programs.

“Trying to reduce chronic absenteeism … [but] we’ve suspended those perks because we want to discourage anyone from coming in if they are feeling sick in any way,” Brady said.

Going forward, Brady said he and other regional superintendents will work closely with county and state public health, and the state Education Department.

“We’re all just trying to stay on top of it for the health and safety of our schools and communities. Our decisions will be made in collaboration with those experts in the field who are advising all of us,” he said. “We will continue ongoing communication with them. If there are cases that are found in our communities, that is information that will come lately from Public Health.”

If a student or staff member in any school tests positive for COVID-19, there is a state directive to automatically close school for 24 hours and work with public health officials before reopening.

“If we do have a case of coronavirus, a positive test by any students and staff we are required to shut down the school for 24 hours for cleaning, as well as collaboration with public health on next steps,” Brady said.

“We’re really not in a state of panic. We’re just in a state of ‘prepare, just in case,’” Kendall said. “We are always being updated. And therefore we will update parents, students and staff of any changes going forward. We will do so whenever any change occurs.”