August 13, 2020
MPA recognizes every community member holds a dual wish of continuing the high-quality educational opportunities families have come to know and expect, while also maintaining health, safety, and wellness for themselves and others. Our symptom and case response protocols are designed with these shared values and goals at the center of our approach. Some families have asked specific questions about what will happen if someone develops symptoms, tests positive, or is potentially exposed on campus. Like so many parts of this pandemic, there is not a one-size-fits all solution for each case. Through our team of medical advisors and the MPA Community Advisory Group, we have developed a detailed and multi-pronged approach to symptom response, contact tracing, and confirmed cases. We will deploy a swift, personal, and private response that is taken through our 49-point COVID-19 response flow chart, which helps our contact tracing and response team to effectively manage each step along the way. Our team will also partner and work hand-in-hand with the Minnesota Department of Health and other local officials should the need arise.
If a student is on campus and begins to experience COVID-19 symptoms they will be treated with compassion, empathy, and the care that every student has come to know at MPA. Students experiencing symptoms in the middle of the school day will be personally accompanied into our waiting room isolation spaces on campus. This trained staff member or school administrator will remain with the student throughout the symptom response process. The goal of this response is to minimize contacts between the individual experiencing the symptoms, while exhibiting compassion and maintaining a calm and supportive environment. We do not want students to feel any stigma or worry about reporting when they are feeling unwell or experiencing COVID-identified symptoms.
Once a student arrives in our waiting isolation space, parents will be contacted immediately. As shared in the MPA Health and Safety Pledge, the expectation is for parents to pick up their student within one hour, or release them to drive themselves home, if they are a self-driver and a medical screening deems this an appropriate step and you grant permission. Additionally, that student’s sibling(s) will be discretely gathered, as they will also need to remain at home based upon the circumstances of the symptoms and the next steps in our response protocols.
If anyone in your student’s household experiences symptoms, tests positive for COVID-19, or may have been exposed as a close contact, we ask you to send a private and confidential email to covid19tracing@moundsparkacademy.org within 24 hours. Your proactive email notification will streamline our process and response protocol to promote and maintain health and safety for your own family, and our community members.
If you have questions about MPA’s symptom response process, how this might impact your family, or other COVID-19 health and safety questions, please contact Jennifer Rogers-Petitt, director of development and community engagement and COVID-19 health and safety lead at jrogers@moundsparkacademy.org.
