09.28.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
September 28, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody thank you for joining us I'm Larry Little this morning we are continuing our conversation about school Reopenings David Putney from the Santa Clara County Office of Education is here and in just a few moments we will be discussing some of the questions that some of our community members have regarding school Reopenings here in Santa Clara County but first we want to let you know that prior to this broadcast we did remove our face coverings so everyone including the American Sign Language interpreters can clearly understand the information and probably communicate that we will be sharing uh this morning David thanks for being here you're back so soon

David Putney: Oh my pleasure

Larry Little: You know things are constantly changing with COVID here so you know it's great that schools are you know Re-opening for in-person instruction and you know we've been receiving receiving a lot of telephone calls as well as questions coming in via messenger regarding temperature checks and what the process is for schools what they should be doing so is there an actual process and just tell us what should schools be doing

David Putney: Great great question thank you Larry you know we originally started with temperature checks early on when we were learning about COVID and we felt that that was the most effective early on the Health Department Public Health Department has clarified that the use of temperature checks is not as effective and as necessary in the school setting so what we've developed now is more clear guidelines on what is is accepted at the schools and it's really about the screen the personal screening that the faculty does before school the parents and the children before they come to school and it's clearly outlined if they have symptoms of a fever a fever over 100.04 temperature if they have any additional symptoms and there's a screening each school is providing that screening sheet to students and to parents and also to staff so they can do that self-reporting before they come in it's more effective and it also helps empower I think everyone to be part of the solution with COVID uh COVID 19

LL: You know very similar to a lot of the checks that we go through coming here to the Emergency Operations Center

David Putney: Yeah exactly and I think you know the the more effective things that the schools are really doing is really developing the use of the face coverings I know we're not wearing the face coverings right now because of the the reasons you stated but the face covering is the most effective thing that everyone can do to prevent COVID the other thing schools are doing a fantastic job about is also helping ensure that people understand the hand washing and the hygiene that's really necessary to prevent that so you're not touching your eyes you're not touching your nose you're washing your hands regularly long enough to really could decrease any potential infection schools are going through their regular cleaning consistent protocols to make sure that surfaces are clean high touched areas such as door handles table tops work spaces is cleaned on a regular basis and you know around here at the EOC we're cleaning our own workspace every day at the beginning and also at the end of the day so I see this as a chance for everyone to take more ownership in keeping their environments clean and schools are really helping that and they're also looking at the food distribution when they do provide food to make sure again it's very clean it's cleaned on the front end and provided using personal protective equipment regularly

LL: Yeah another thing that we're doing here that everyone should be doing we're getting tested on a regular basis

David Putney: Yes we are okay

LL: So the cohort question continues to come up uh can you explain what a stable cohort is and what it means for schools is it different based on Elementary, Junior High, High school

David Putney: Great the cohort is really established to keep that social bubble around the individuals at the school setting so the Elementary level it's really expected that the students would be in their small classroom environment they'd be maintaining their six feet social distancing and then that one cohort would be how they would have their school in-person instruction that means that when they go to a lunch environment they're supported by their staff member that also is part of that that stable cohort and that they actually then they go to their recess time they're able to play outdoors but then they come back in the school setting and they're in that one stable cohort the Middle and the High School as schools reopen becomes a little bit more difficult because historically students have gone between classes and multiple classes so we're working with schools to try to minimize that and to look at how they can prevent a lot of cross-crossing of students so again less changes in the school day is the best the stable cohort being a small group of students that stays together with their teacher is the best and then for the after school and before school the same idea applies is that they should have one small stable cohort that they would be for an after-school program so at the end of the day a student would be in two social bubbles one at school one for their after-school care and then they'd go back home to their families

LL: So how are schools handling you know choir and band and activities like that

David Putney: You know that's a great question especially at the High School students have so many activities in Choir and Band the activities that that are creating the aerosol the wind instruments um you know the Trumpets or the Trombones or the Choir singing that can create a lot of aerosol which we've found through science as that's where COVID potentially can be transmitted so the guidelines are not allowing those types of the activities to occur right now in the school setting for those obvious reasons schools can still have Band they just need to not have the aerosol producing activities so if they want to be practicing their Drums and they can do other instruments that are you know that are non-aerosol creating they can do that and practice social distancing um I know some schools have explored having Marching Band outside with a six feet social distancing it's a great example some have been wanting to do uh Drama Productions I think that's something we need to continue to support schools on on working that through as long as they're not singing and creating the aerosol as long as they're social distancing and hopefully outside would be the best case scenario to allow that so as this virus continues to evolve

LL: There are changes with everything such as information how can community members continue to get their questions answered

DP: Great question the the the evolution we continue to improve our messaging and improve the science explanation as we go forward when questions come up I encourage we encourage that the families you know work directly with their schools to ask the question they know the school they know the staff the staff know them the staff know their children it's a great first start to ask their questions and resolve that if the school doesn't have the information because it's new science or new conditions please reach out to us here through the the maine county page there's an area where you can ask your questions if there's again information that we know we'll report that out if sometimes those questions we don't know the answer we'll bring it back to Public Health Department and they'll help clarify that for us Public Health is doing a fantastic job of making the science understandable and making the practice informing the practice so we improve our practice together

LL: Yeah so we don't plan on going back to purple so but how complicated will it be once we move to a different Tier will there be less restrictions and it be a lot easier for uh the schools

DP: You know Larry that question I think we'll have to address that over the course of the the coming weeks and we'll follow Public Health Departments Directives uh I anticipate that the protocols that we've established will continue because they make sense they're based on science face coverings proper hygiene cleaning social distancing stable cohorts I would anticipate that those practices are what's helping us stay in Tier 2 and helping us move towards Tier 3 I'd anticipate that those common practices will continue because they're working and they make sense

LL: So a little bit of discussion around you know people here school Re-opening and they feel that every school is opening their doors can you explain how each school is operating or going about this process

DP: Absolutely here in California we have Local Control the way the Constitution has addressed the responsibilities of Public Education and Private Education is its Local Control so Local School Districts are governed by their Local Districts and their Local Elected Officers Private Schools have their own governance Board and Charter schools are also governed through their Chartering District each of those Local Education Agencies as we call them often LEA is having to make the decisions on what's best for their community with their colleagues with their collective employment groups and to see how they can respond so when students and families are curious on where their school is we encourage you to reach out to the school and ask them directly some schools are able to move faster through that process due to their size and some Districts are working through some additional requirements that they need to work through to provide a safe and consistent school environment so it's not that all schools are open it's all individualized based on the different school community

LL: A lot of times people are sitting out there and they they're wondering who is this person giving me all this information so i'm putting on you on the spot for just a little bit talk about some of your credentials in working in education

DP: Oh great that's very kind to you I've been in Public Education for about 25 years as a Classroom Teacher as a Special Education Teacher as well as a School Site Administrator administrating Alternative Schools, Independent Study Schools, Traditional Comprehensive High Schools and also currently at the County Office of Education uh currently working in the direction of our County Superintendent

LL: Awesome and we we talked the other day and you don't do you didn't do it for the money you said your first job uh paid

DP: Yeah my first teaching assignment

LL: And you stayed at it for so many years

DP: Well you know working with children and families is so important uh Education is the path of of all of us becoming the best that we can be and I just feel really inspired every day to support schools and and staff and kids to be their best and Education just keep improving you keep learning and this is a perfect example of learning by doing and following the guidelines of our Public Health Department to ensure that everyone's safe

LL: All right David thank you for being here we'll have you back when the information changes which that could be in a few days

DP: Thank you so much

LL: All right we want to invite you to join us for En Vivo Facebook Live in Spanish on Mondays and Wednesdays and Friday at 11 a.m. and Facebook live in Vietnamese on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Air quality is expected to be unhealthy today limit your outdoor activities it's also going to be very warm this week so you want to just stay inside and stay cool also Flu Shots we want to encourage everyone to get a Flu Shot here in the County you can go to sccphd.org/flu again sccphd.org/flu alright thanks for watching everyone stay cool we'll see you next time