ATLANTA — A Fulton County Schools employee has tested positive for coronavirus, the district said Monday, and the entire district will close tomorrow. The closure will keep 93,500 students from 106 schools in 14 different cities at home on Tuesday.
The sick teacher worked at two schools, Bear Creek Middle School in Fairburn and Woodland Middle School in East Point. Creekside High School was also released early because of it's close proximity to Bear Creek Middle School and because many families have students in both schools, the district said.
All the extracurricular activities at all schools are also cancelled for Tuesday.
Just last week, Fulton superintendent Dr. Mike Looney issued guidance for students, employees and families.
The district has established an Executive Task Force to "monitor and oversee FCS's ongoing response to the coronavirus," the letter said.
That task force was charged with implementing a communications response that included addressing matters of school attendance, school cleaning, student enrollment, student travel and re-entry, employee travel and re-entry, employee attendance and facility rental.
On school attendance, the document says that students who had written documentation from a healthcare provider advising them to stay home would be "fully accommodated."
It is not clear how the district would address accommodating any kind of extended closure of an entire school. "For all other students, normal school attendance policies remain in effect" the document stated.
In terms of disinfecting schools, FCS said in its guidance it would "utilize products confirmed by the manufacturer to kill human coronavirus and other viruses" while also planning to "provide adequate supply of soap and paper towels for student and employee use."
After the first two Georgia coronavirus cases were announced in Fulton County, the school district also said it was "developing a plan to limit 'non-essential' school activities and travel to lessen the risk of exposure."
"Considering the virus is now confirmed in ourcounty, we are taking initial steps to minimize risk to our students and staff," a district statement said at the time. "Our school districtis following the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) guidance to K-12 schools, which includesmaking sure that our emergency operations plans are reviewed and up-to-date and that thereis routine environmental cleaning. FCS uses cleaning products that have been verified by themanufacturer to kill coronavirus and other viruses."
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