According to the Utah Department of Health, anyone testing positive for COVID-19 should isolate immediately. Park City School District employees who do that must use their sick days and vacation time to do so. Some employees are worried that will lead to underreporting of cases.
While the protocols for those testing positive are clear, much of the current policy relies on an honor code.
Park City School District Superintendent Jill Gildea said Thursday that vaccinated, asymptomatic staff exposed to the virus are not required to quarantine if they wear masks and have not tested positive. She said this aligns with the Utah Department of Health K-12 school recommendations.
Vaccination is not mandatory for PCSD employees, and teachers are not required to get tested if exposed. Gildea declined to comment on staff who test positive and come to work.
Several teachers told KPCW they’re worried employees will simply not get tested in order to avoid potentially using paid time off to quarantine.
Park City Education Association representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment about employee sick leave policy.
Concerns about underreporting extend to students as well. Recent reports from throughout Utah have highlighted significant numbers of families not reporting positive COVID cases in children. The Utah Department of Health said this week that official counts in schools are not accurate.
As of Thursday afternoon, Park City schools had a total of 21 active COVID cases in schools, according to individual campus web pages. The highest concentration is at Ecker Hill Middle School, which has 6 cases. Trailside Elementary has five cases.
Those numbers are based on self-reporting to school nurses.
Summit County Health Department guidelines require masks be worn at any school where 2% of the total campus population has active COVID cases.
Under the safety protocols on the PCSD web site, a handbook provides guidelines for returning to school while COVID-19 is still in a high rate of transmission in the community. Face coverings are strongly recommended in preschool through grade 12, with some exceptions. Physical contact is discouraged, and distancing of at least six feet is urged whenever possible indoors.
Junior high and high school students told KPCW that fewer than 10 percent of students wear masks indoors.
You can find PCSD COVID-19 informationhere:
The Parent Return to School handbook can be foundhere.
