OKCPS Families and Staff,
Today, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) indicates that the cases per 100,000 for Oklahoma County are 64.4, as compared to 86.0 last week. This means Oklahoma County remains in the OSDE’s Red Alert Level. Based on this information and ongoing advice from public health officials, OKCPS students and teachers will continue to learn/teach remotely for the remainder of the semester, and other district staff will once again report to our buildings on a staggered schedule for the week of December 7 - 11.
OKCPS Weekly COVID Reporting
Each Friday, OKCPS reports the number of “self-reported” positive COVID-19 cases, along with the number of individuals who have been asked to isolate due to potential exposure to the virus. In order to continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 cases, we would ask families to continue to report positive cases of students to their schools.
“Close Contact” Exposure refers to the number of cases when a staff member or student was in “close contact” with a person who has tested positive for COVID and has been asked to isolate. “Close contact” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention occurs when an individual is within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days (or 48 hours) before the infected person’s onset of symptoms.
Self-Reported Positive Cases refers to the number of cases when a staff member or student has notified OKCPS of positive results from a COVID-19 test.
Reminders
Although OKCPS has committed to Remote Learning through the remainder of the semester, we recognize the social and emotional toll that being out of school takes on our students. We know that positive interaction with peers and the ability to participate in school-related activities can play an important role in a student’s overall physical and mental wellness. For this reason, OKCPS made the decision to resume high school fine arts, athletics, and a number of other high school extracurricular activities this week in a voluntary and safe manner. Please visit https://tinyurl.com/y3e45e6a for details.
As a reminder, OKCPS has a dedicated hotline for all staff to report COVID-19 cases or exposure, and families should call their child’s school directly if their child tests positive or is presumed to be positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to a positive person. The health and wellness of our students and staff is still our priority, and although we are currently in a Remote Learning setting, we encourage families to continue to report positive cases of students to their schools in order to continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 Reporting Instructions can be found here: www.okcps.org/Page/5673
If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to take a moment to review the latest draft of the district’s 5-year strategic plan which our Board of Education will be voting on at Monday’s Board Meeting. You can find more information here: www.okcps.org/Page/4488
Supports
OKCPS remains committed to supporting our students, families and staff in every way possible. In addition to our 58-STUDY (7-8839) hotline for academic support, 587-HELP (4357) hotline for technical support, and 587-FEEL (3335) hotline for emotional support and crisis intervention, OKCPS launched “Routes to Resources” -- a mobile resource program for our students and families. Routes to Resources will function in two ways. One way allows staff to use our school buses to visit students in the community to provide resources or serve families. The second way involves district staff staged on the bus in a park or other location in the community. This will allow families to visit the bus if they are in need of assistance. Families can find a schedule, as well as a list of the resources available, by visiting www.okcps.org/R2R.
Winter Break will be here before we know it, and I encourage everyone to stay focused on learning and doing all we can to stay safe and well for these next few weeks. I will provide you with another update next Friday. In the meantime, let’s continue to take care of each other and stay safe, everyone.
Dr. Sean McDaniel
Superintendent
