Given its status as a top destination for newly arrived immigrant students, the DeKalb County School District has announced a policy on new students from Ebola-impacted countries or U.S. areas dealing with the deadly disease.
This week, DeKalb blocked enrollment of two students who recently returned from West Africa.
DeKalb school officials said the father worked for CARE, a humanitarian organization, as a finance controller in the Liberia/Sierra Leone office. He returned to the United States on Sept. 14 with his family and tried to enroll the children Wednesday at Dunwoody Elementary and Dunwoody High.
According to school officials, the family had a letter from CARE saying more than 21 days had passed since their return from the United States, which is beyond the quarantine period for Ebola. But school officials turned the students away because the district requires confirmation from the CDC or local health department, not from an employer, said spokesman Quinn Hudson.
Here is the district statement:
On Wednesday, the DeKalb County School District notified all principals and administrators that no new students from Ebola-affected West African countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and other affected areas in the United States will be enrolled or allowed to attend classes on school campuses without proper medical documentation and approval by the Superintendent.
The District is working in collaboration and communication with the DeKalb Board of Health, Centers for Disease Control, DeKalb Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Additionally, the Superintendent has urged all principals and administrators to be vigilant. They are to inform all staff to be observant for anyone exhibiting a fever in the school and immediately ask if they have traveled to or come into contact with someone who has traveled to an Ebola affected region.
If school officials encounter individuals whom they believe exhibit symptoms, they are to immediately separate the individual from contact with others and report it to the Regional Superintendent.
As with any potential or actual communicable disease, the school district has guidelines and protocols to follow, and if any cases are suspected or confirmed in our community, we will follow the DeKalb Board of Health Department's guidance and direction.
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