LM Summer2020_hi

Takeaways froma COVID-19Outbreak inMahomet-Seymour

Dr. Lindsey Hall Superintendent, Mahomet-Seymour CUSD #3

Let me start by saying this: I hope you never have to respond to an outbreak of COVID-19 in your community. As someone who has experienced it first hand, I can tell you I wasn’t initially prepared for everything that would follow. Unfortunately, other school leaders could find themselves in a similar position in the months to come. To help you navigate uncharted waters, I wanted to share lessons I learned and hopefully what are some valuable takeaways. For those of you who don’t know, an unofficial prom in mid-June that was not related to, sanctioned by or endorsed by our district was the source of a COVID-19 outbreak of 16 cases. This single event was a driving factor in why the number of positive cases doubled in our zipcode in the last half of June, according to the Champaign Urbana Public Health District The outbreak impacted our summer programming, including behind-the-wheel driver’s education and summer conditioning for two athletic programs. On June 23, those programs were temporarily suspended, with the plan being to restart driver’s education on July 1, 2020. As does everyone else, as of the writing of this article, we await the IHSA’s Phase 2 Return to Play guidelines to determine if and how we will move ahead with athletics this summer. The Mahomet-Seymour Schools are an integral part of the communities of Mahomet and Seymour—what happens and evolves in our community almost always impacts our schools. I’m sure it’s the same way in your district. Throughout this process, we have prioritized the physical, emotional and mental health of our students and staff. However, those decisions created inconveniences and tested everyone’s patience. One main lesson I have learned is this: Be flexible and be ready to pivot, and know that no decision will meet everyone’s expectations or keep everyone happy. Here are some other takeaways from the past few weeks that perhaps provide insight into pertinent issues we’ll see upon resuming school.

Key questions/issues, not necessarily in priority order: 1. What are the roles of the schools and the local county health department? Who is doing contact tracing vs. contacting parents and how are contacts made? 2. When and how are decisions made to suspend/end programs or events? Who is part of the decision making? How are decisions communicated? 3. Who will be tracking COVID-19 cases internally, within your organization? These include days of quarantining, procedures for returning to school, tracking on the required steps to be taken, etc. 4. As much as possible, have communication ready to go for various scenarios that can and will occur, including if students test positive, staff test positive and subsequent events or programming that are impacted. News will spread at the speed of light, and it’s a challenge to stay ahead of it. Be prepared and accept there will be times you are “the last to know.” 5. State only the facts of any situation. This could involve collaborating with the local health department or using their language/wording from their press releases or website. People on social media will freely offer their opinions on any situation, that’s not our job. 6. Have you identified and communicated your district’s top priorities in dealing with COVID-19? If not, it is certainly not too late to do that, and it is helpful to frame all decision making within and with always considering these priorities—keep them out front and communicate them regularly with staff and parents. Student and staff health should be one of those priorities. To close, I want to remind you there is an incredible network of support among superintendents in our state. It’s more important than ever to lean on others, ask questions and share your ideas. These are high stress times we’re in, and our own well-being must be preserved in order to effectively lead and serve our organizations.

11 LM Summer 2020