Johnson County health director to meet with school superintendents

Johnson County Kansas Health and Environment – Johnson County Department of Health and Environment Director Dr. Sanmi Areola will meet with the county’s six school superintendents on Tuesday, August 18 to discuss the county’s latest COVID-19 infection data.

The school superintendents will take the information learned and factor it into the decisions each school district will make independently regarding JCDHE’s Public Health Recommendations for Safe School Reopening and school gating criteria.

The recommendations are based on currently available information, data and science as well as expert analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Children’s Mercy Hospital.  JCDHE developed the gating criteria in consultation with the school districts per their request. It has been adopted for use in other Kansas counties including Sedgwick and Riley counties. The gating criteria created in collaboration with the school districts include two specific data points: the percent of positive tests and the trend in the number of new cases (steady, increasing or decreasing). If the gating criteria relied on infection rate by population, the result would still be the same.

No decisions will be made at this meeting. The gating criteria only recommend a safe learning mode for academic instruction and school-related activities. How districts apply them to student and staff requirements for attendance or work is a district-level decision.

JCDHE and school districts will continue to work closely together to monitor community and school conditions and will make amendments if necessary.