Screenshot of Superintendent Eric Turman presenting the COVID-19 dashboard that will be added to the district’s website next week.
The Harrisburg School District is launching a new platform to keep parents and students informed about the impact of COVID-19.
At a business meeting on Monday night, Superintendent Eric Turman announced that a COVID dashboard will soon be available on the district’s website and include information on the number of cases per building.
“The dashboard would give us an opportunity, on a daily basis, to update the community in terms of what is happening in our schools,” Turman said.
On the dashboard will be a list of each school within the district, the total number of students in each and the number of COVID cases. It also will show what percentage of the student body those cases make up. Following those numbers will be a rating of the alert level for each school—low, moderate, high, very high or max.
According to their scale, a low case count of 0 to 1.99% of students is in the green, while a max level of 5% or higher is in the red. Turman explained that if the district reaches the max alert, they will move to remote learning for seven days.
The alert ratings will be updated every evening, Turman said.
The dashboard also indicates the number of students and staff who are quarantined. Turman explained that those numbers include anyone who may have been exposed to the virus, not only those who have tested positive.
The dashboard will likely be published on the district’s website next week, Turman said.
He also provided information about reporting COVID cases, symptoms and exposures.
If a student tests positive for COVID, a parent must report this to the school building leader, Turman said. They may only return to school after 10 days since the symptoms appeared, after 24 hours with no fever and after improvement in symptoms.
The school will then conduct tracing to identify children that were in close contact with the affected student, Turman said. Those students will remain quarantined in the building until a parent picks them up. The school community will then be notified, he added.
Also at the business meeting, Receiver Janet Samuels announced Dr. Lori Suski as the new chief recovery officer. She will work to continue with the district’s amended recovery plan, specifically focused on improving the areas of finances, academics and student stability. Suski previously served on the amended recovery plan advisory board for the district.
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