School districts in Texas and Ohio closed campuses on Thursday in response to news that students and staff were, or may have been, in contact with confirmed Ebola patients.
Royse City ISD announced early Thursday afternoon that it would close two schools Friday after district officials learned a health care worker with two children helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan and Nina Pham. She has been classified as "low risk."
Jeff Webb, the district's associate superintendent, said Davis Elementary School and Ruth Cherry Intermediate School will be closed for cleaning. They will not have an early release Thursday, but he said the two schools will not hold afterschool activities.
Parents received a letter about the two school closures Thursday afternoon. The school closures will allow the custodial staff to clean the schools, Webb said.
He said the district does not have enough custodial staff to clean schools overnight.
"This gives us enough time to do what we need to do correctly," he said.
Belton ISD in Central Texas temporarily closed three of its campuses Thursday after Learning that two of its students traveled Monday on the same Cleveland-to-Dallas Frontier Airlines flight as nurse Amber Joy Vinson, whose Ebola diagnosis was announced by health offiicals early Wednesday.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director says it’s unlikely that others on the plane were at risk because Vinson wasn’t vomiting or bleeding. Ebola patients aren’t considered contagious until they exhibit symptoms.
Superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon announced the closures of North Belton Middle School, Sparta Elementary and the Belton Early Childhood School on Wednesday. The district also said that some buses would be disinfected.
The students’ parents are keeping them home voluntarily for 21 days.
In Ohio, a suburban Cleveland district closed two schools after learning that a school staff member might have flown aboard the same aircraft, but not on the same flight, as Vinson.
Solon City Schools spokeswoman Tammy Strom said a staff member at Solon Middle School traveled from Dallas to Cleveland early Tuesday on a Frontier Airlines flight. Vinson had flown Frontier from Cleveland to Dallas Monday night. The staff member approached the principal after hearing news of Vinson's diagnosis and prior travel.
Strom said that even though neither the district nor the staff member was able to confirm whether it was the same aircraft, the district decided to close the middle school and Parkside Elementary School, which share a building. District officials spoke to CDC and county health officials for advice before deciding to close the two schools.
"We are going the extra mile to make sure we allay people's fears as much as we can," Strom said. "This was going a step beyond what public health protocols would call for. It's so new for everyone that we just wanted to take a step back and take the time."
The two schools were to be cleaned by custodial staff Thursday "in consultation with experts in the field and with public health protocols," Strom said.
The district sent an email late Wednesday to parents, and the school closures were announced on TV, much like snow days, she said.
In the email, the district said that "there was no public health recommendation to close the schools and we do not believe there is a risk to our students and staff," but they made the decision "out of an abundance of caution." They included a link to a CDC fact sheet about Ebola.
All Solon City schools are closed Friday for a planned professional day.
After reports circulated Thursday that the parents of four Garland ISD students were on the plane with Vinson, district officials issued a statement confirming that fact but adding that CDC officials assured the parents that they were at no risk of contracting the virus.
The district said the students attend North Garland High School and Schrade Middle School and that the students are not being held out. The district said administrators at the two schools are communicating with parents about the situation.
Staff writer Meilssa Repko and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
