Online tool tracks COVID-19 cases in schools statewide

JACKSON, Tenn. — School districts across the state are now reporting COVID-positive cases online.

Last week, the Tennessee Department of Education released a dashboard tool, allowing school districts to report COVID-19 cases in their schools.

Many districts across the state are using that online tool in addition to systems they already had to notify families of positive cases.

“We already go ahead and make phone calls each time we have a positive case of a staff member or a student, and so I personally do those all calls to the building levels to let those parents in that building know,” said Superintendent Jonathan Criswell, with Milan Special School District.

Haywood County School District Superintendent Joey Hassell says they have been using the dashboard online to update families and community members as well.

“We have now entered, for our district, we have entered two weeks worth of data. We entered last Monday and we did again this Monday,” Hassell said.

He says Haywood County has already been reporting cases on the district’s website for parents and community members to access.

“We started in-person classes on August 17, and we have been sharing a weekly report on our website for positive cases, as well as quarantine students Haywood County,” Hassell said.

In Milan, Criswell says they continue to notify families at individual schools if any staff or students test positive for COVID-19 in an effort to maintain transparency.

“We want our parents in our community to be updated with the most useful information so that they can make the best decision once what to do for educational purposes,” Criswell said.

The Tennessee Department of Education says schools with fewer than five positive students or faculty will not list a specific number of cases. Those with more than five, the state will list the exact number of positive staff and students.

Districts are encouraged to report their updated numbers weekly to share on the dashboard.

For more information on the COVID-19 dashboard or to look up individual districts, click here.