Anna Maria Elementary’s kindergarten class of 26 students and its two teachers began a 10-day quarantine Feb. 5.
A kindergarten student was sent home from school Feb. 3 to take a coronavirus test and quarantine after showing symptoms of COVID-19.
A positive result of the test was returned Feb. 5, AME principal Jackie Featherston said Feb. 9 in a phone interview with The Islander.
The student attended school within 48 hours before the test, so the class was exposed, she added.
Manatee County School District policy states if a kindergarten student sent home from school tests positive for the virus, the class and teachers must quarantine.
Featherston said this is because of the difficulty associated with contact tracing due to the age and activity level of the children though social distancing and face mask precautions are in place for kindergarten students, as with other classes.
School staff called parents of kindergartners Feb. 5 to pick up their children.
“They’re just glad we’re staying on top of things” and most parents are “just grateful to have their kids in school,” Featherston said.
Parent-Teacher Organization president Nicole Plummer was one of the parents called to pick up her child, 6-year-old Luke.
“He was distraught because he didn’t understand why he had to leave school,” she told The Islander Feb. 10, especially since his older sister, fourth-grader Lilly, remained in class.
Plummer said her family had COVID-19 in the fall but “for my peace of mind,” she took Luke to a testing site at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., Palmetto.
Luke’s rapid test was negative but the experience was a rough one for her son, she said.
But by the end of the day, Plummer said, Luke “was more concerned about the child who has it.”
The class quarantine ended Feb. 14 but due to Presidents Day, students were not to return to class until Feb. 16, after The Islander press date.
Also, any student not showing symptoms of the virus who negatively affected a polymerase chain reaction test could return as early as Feb. 11, Featherston said.
“It cannot be a rapid test,” Featherston said.
Results from a PCR test take two to three days and district policy requires a negative result from a test to prove eligibility to return to campus.
The teachers and students quarantining were eligible to take a test Feb. 9.
Plummer said information about the PCR test requirement to return before the end of quarantine was included in the information provided by the school when she picked up Luke.
Remote schooling
Despite the quarantine, a week of no work was not in the cards for the class.
Featherston said their teachers prepared assignments for home study.
Plummer is a former high school teacher and she has a space at home set up like a classroom, which is where she worked with Luke on his assignments.
“He thinks it’s awesome playing and learning at home. He calls it Mrs. Plummer’s class,” Plummer said with a laugh.
Positive cases at AME
The kindergartner was the third student to test positive at AME since March 2020.
A week earlier, a second-grader tested positive, prompting the quarantine of four students, who did not test positive and returned to campus by Feb. 10.
“We’re finding students that have tested positive have not contracted it at school,” Featherston said.
That none of the students required to quarantine due to contact tracing measures contracted the illness is an indicator the school was not the origin point for the infection, Featherston said.
Featherston said “about another half dozen” students at AME had contracted the virus. Still, because they had not attended school within 48 hours, contact tracing protocols were not triggered and additional students were not required to quarantine.
As of Feb. 10, 674 students and staff in the school district had been sent home with the virus, including 255 since Jan. 6.
The number does not include students and staff who had COVID-19 but did not attend school within 48 hours of a positive test. Contact tracing protocols and additional quarantines are not required in those cases, so those numbers are not tracked.
Anna Maria Elementary is at 4700 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach.
For more information, call the school at 941-708-5525.