Student and School Safety

Tulsa Public Schools has COVID-19 safety protocols in place at all of our school buildings and district sites. Our practices include a self-administered health questionnaire, temperature screening at the door, and requiring face coverings in all common areas and/or in the presence of other people. We are asking everyone in the Tulsa Public Schools community to practice safe distancing and to stay home if they are experiencing symptoms. Our weekly COVID-19 Case Count includes three measures: reports of potential exposure, reports of confirmed cases, and “close contacts” traced by staff.

Click here to view the weekly case count. Click here for Spanish.

Tulsa Public Schools has safety guidelines and protocols in place to help minimize community spread of COVID-19. One of our most important (and most effective) safety practices is our mask requirement: all students and adults must wear masks that cover their noses and mouths. 

While we are following the news around the potential expiration of the City of Tulsa’s mask mandate closely, it is important to know that safety practices at Tulsa Public Schools will not change. Regardless of whether our city continues the mask mandate, all students and adults on our campuses or sites will still be required to wear masks that cover their noses and mouths.  

Across the entirety of this pandemic, we have continued to make decisions grounded in science and data and in consultation with our local medical experts. We know that: 

• Masks are highly effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19;
• Most of our students are under age 16 and ineligible for vaccination; and 
• We take our responsibility for your child’s health and safety with the urgency it deserves. 

Our decision is aligned with the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s recommendation and with the Tulsa Health Department's advice to continue requiring students and adults to wear masks at schools.

Our mask requirement will remain in place through the remainder of the school year and during the summer months for those students participating in our Ready. Set. Summer! programs.

Safety Practices Before School

• Parents and guardians must complete the Student Health Screening Questionnaire before school.
• If the response to any of the screening questions is “YES,” students should be kept at home.
• Students must have a mask that covers the nose and mouth before they can board the bus.
• While every child should bring a mask to school, we will provide masks for students who need them.
  • (Students will have opportunities for mask breaks across the day.)

Student Arrival and Dismissal

• By car: Parents and guardians should stay in their cars when dropping off and picking up students.
• On foot: Parents and guardians should leave their students with school staff at drop-off and pick-up students outside of the building at dismissal.
• Please note: if you have reliable transportation to drive your child to school, we encourage you to do so as distancing will be difficult on our buses.

Building Access

• Only students, teachers, and essential district support professionals and partners can enter the building.
• Parents and guardians picking up students early may enter the front office.
• Parents and guardians can make appointments for any meetings that cannot take place online or by phone.

Safety Practices at School

• All students and adults must wear masks that cover the nose and mouth.
• Students will spend the day with their classmates and will not mix with other groups.
• Sharing of school supplies will be limited to student “pods,” and materials will be disinfected at the end of each day.
• Student transitions between spaces in the building will be limited.
• Student lunch-times will be staggered by class to allow for distancing in the cafeteria.
• Students will have extra time during the day for hand-washing and sanitizing, including before and after meals.
• Students will be outside more and will be able to use school playgrounds.

• Please note: while we will work to create as much safe distancing as possible during the school day, it is unlikely that we can provide the six feet of distance recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Keeping Schools and Classrooms Clean

• Shared spaces, materials, and equipment will be cleaned and disinfected between uses.
• High-touch areas - such as doorknobs, handrails, and sinks - will be sanitized throughout the day.
• School buildings will be cleaned and disinfected at the end of each day.
• Any person entering the building must wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth.

Mask Requirements

• Masks must cover the nose and mouth.
• Masks should be two or more layers.
• Masks must be worn any time or place where other people are present.
• Masks may be removed at mealtimes, outdoors, and during mask breaks.
• Parents will be notified for the first two incidents of students not following mask requirements; a third incident may result in students returning to distance learning.

What happens if a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, is exposed to COVID-19, or has symptoms of COVID-19?

If your child is exposed to COVID-19, the school will contact you directly. Please make sure your child's school has an updated email and phone number for you.

*"Close contact" as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period at less than 6 feet of distance from a person with a confirmed or potential case of COVID-19 starting from 2 days before the onset of illness.

We will focus on conditions in our district.

• We have a set of early warning indicators in our district, and we look to these first to begin assessing conditions.
• Our Rapid Testing Pilot supplements these early indicators, and will help us preemptively identify possible exposures.

We have partnered with the Tulsa Health Department and other researchers to create a data-driven process to assess COVID health conditions for Tulsa Public Schools.

• Early Warning Indicators at TPS Schools
  • These data will help us to monitor conditions that are more localized and specific to our context. These data will help us to be more sensitive to conditions within schools to know if cases are higher or lower than overall county averages. These metrics are:
    • Tulsa Public Schools rapid testing results
    • New case rates for team members and students (TPS contact tracing)
• Foundational School System Metrics
  • These internal data measure our ability to appropriately respond to early warning indicators and enact the necessary safety precautions at our schools. These metrics are
    • Availability of necessary PPE
    • Rates of quarantine
    • Staffing capacity
• Foundational Health Care Metrics
  • These core metrics will help us understand overall rates of community spread. These data will help us to assess overall risk and changes in our greater community that may necessitate a change in our response. The core metrics are:
    • 7-day rolling average of new cases in Tulsa Public Schools boundary (calculated from public data).
    • 7-day rolling average of new cases in Tulsa County

In addition to the above metrics, we will consider variables such as active case rates by zip code, hospitalization rates, test positivity rates, and other data as advised by medical experts and best available research.

The three categories of metrics will be monitored weekly, and if a foundational health care metric hits threshold, or we detect an early warning from one of our indicators, evaluation and discussion.

The frequency of monitoring will increase when metrics are close to thresholds, and or early warning indicators at one or multiple schools are changing.

The approach for weekly assessment anchors on the following:

• Stability of trend creates more stability for our system. We are using multiple weeks trend data minimize abrupt shifts for our students, families, and teachers.
• Triangulation of data brings greater confidence and accuracy. We are assessing Tulsa Public Schools boundary area data and early warning indicators (e.g. rapid testing and 5-17 age group data), Tulsa County data, and then state of Oklahoma data.
• Using additional variables allow us to see the system-as-a-whole. We also monitor active cases, PPE availability, staffing capacity, and hospitalization rates.

Once a full evaluation is triggered based on meeting a threshold condition, we will recommend one of four types of potential actions based on our assessment of the data:

• No changes necessary at this time.
  • Based on current health and systems data, no changes will be made.
• Additional monitoring and through increased, targeted testing.
  • Rapid testing efforts will be scaled up and/or targeted towards particular schools to ensure that potential cases are caught earlier, before widespread exposure or outbreak. Data will be re-examined for the following week.
• Suspend in-person activity at a specific school or multiple schools.
  • If it is necessary to suspend in-person activity at a school, students, families, and staff will be notified shortly after a decision is made. Notices will be sent by 5 a.m. day of, 10 p.m. day before, or 2 p.m. for mid-day.
• Change the default mode of instruction for the entire district.
  • After a full discussion and evaluation is triggered, a formal recommendation will be provided to the Board of Education reporting the suggested default mode of instruction. In emergency situations, the superintendent has the authority to execute individual school or district-wide closures as appropriate.

We will continue to leverage our COVID Exposure Protocol and Contact Tracing to trigger site specific actions to minimize exposure.

Everyone in our community should be learning about and practicing the “3 Ws” of COVID-19 safety: wear your mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance. While we do have safety protocols in place at all of our buildings and sites, safe distancing will look different with students returning to in-person learning. Adults in our buildings will be expected to manage their distance, and we will maintain as much space as we can when students are in classrooms or moving throughout the building.

It will be important for parents to talk to their children about all of the “3 Ws,” but it is likely that safe distancing will be challenging for students in all grade levels. It will be hard for children to not hug their friends and teachers and to maintain distance with groups of friends that they have not seen since March. We encourage you to talk with your children about other ways to greet their friends from a safe distance.

Tulsa Public Schools has worked over the summer and during distance learning to implement safety practices for when students return in-person. These practices include:

• Personal Protective Equipment: We are providing the appropriate personal protective equipment to our students and employees. For as long as is necessary to ensure safety, most students and all adults are required to wear a mask when around other people. 
• New Building Signage: Our schools and sites have signage about hygiene, social distancing, and safe and healthy behaviors (i.e. minimizing contact, wearing masks.)
• Ventilation: Improved air filtration and/or ventilation systems at each school to minimize the potential airborne transmission of the virus in schools.
• Sanitizing High-touch Surfaces: Custodians are focused on cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and objects: tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, toilets, sinks, handrails, and water bottle filling stations.
• Transportation: The buses are disinfected, staff and students must wear face coverings and the windows open for ventilation.
• Child Nutrition: Meals are being served using the same distribution system as the current summer cafe model.
• Enhanced Personal Hygiene: All schools and buildings have adequate handwashing stations and hand sanitizer dispensers, disinfectant cleaner and wipes in the classrooms. 
• Health Checks: We require temperature checks for adults and ask parents to complete a health screening for students before school. Anyone feeling unwell will be safely separated.
• Intensified Cleaning Techniques: Custodians use handheld electrostatic sprayers and Biospray tanks to increase effectiveness and efficiency in disinfecting procedures. 

Rapid testing screening support

The Tulsa Health Department (THD) and Tulsa Public Schools plan to launch a pilot COVID-19 rapid testing program at schools in November 2020.

• Goals are to reduce infection rates, keep educators in the classroom and guide the district’s decisions to manage in-person instruction in the healthiest and safest way possible.
• Providing the necessary testing will allow district and health department officials to preemptively identify possible exposures.

These testing capabilities will be a valuable resource to help the district safely reopen schools and keep them open to in person instruction.

Approach

• Screen teachers and school-based support professionals
• Rotate testing by groups of schools (potentially feeder patterns)
• Will leverage Abbott Rapid Antigen Point of Care Test or BD* Veritor System + PCR** (24 hour results) based on availability

• Students and children 18 and younger will continue to receive meals free of charge for the remainder of the school year.
• Elementary students will eat pre-packaged meals in classrooms
• Secondary students will eat grab & go meals in designated areas (with safe distancing).
• Remote Learning and Virtual Learning Academy students and families can pick up breakfast, lunch and supper daily at any school location.

EDUCATIONAL SPACES

• Avoid use of shared supplies.
• Provide hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes adjacent to shared equipment and copiers.
• Additional resources for every Special Education classrooms

VENTILATION

• Improved air filtration and/or ventilation strategies at each school to minimize the potential airborne transmission of the virus include a combination of window ventilation and Merv 13 filtration
  • Inspect and repair windows in all classrooms to insure at least one is operable in all rooms where possible
  • Completed inspection and evaluation of  every HVAC unit
  • Installed MERV13 filters in HVAC in every building
  • Install filter sensors on all capable systems
• The district is also investing on expanding EMS demand response system to install “on demand” systems for automated forced air (in schools with EMS). 
  • Upgrade newer HVAC units (2009 forward) with energy management systems tied into the outside air damper.
  • Replace aging HVAC systems, pre 2009, with entirely new units, EMS, and “on demand”.

RESTROOMS & DRINKING FOUNTAINS  

• Limit the number of students in the restrooms at the same time
• Increase frequency of cleaning and disinfecting surfaces
• Drinking fountains - CDC encourages staff and students to bring their own water to minimize use and touching of water fountains - not all schools have the water bottle fill stations.

RECESS AND USAGE OF OUTDOOR SPACES

• Staggered times for groups of outdoor play
• Limit the use of shared toys
• Wash/sanitize hands before and after playground/outdoor space usage
• Teaching and enforcing basic hygiene practices
• Disinfect playground hand rails and high touch areas between groups of students.

Transportation

• Provide hand sanitizer for students and bus drivers.
• Face coverings required for bus drivers and students.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces on each bus daily using electrostatic sprayers.
• Keep windows open as much as possible for fresh air flow.

• Wear your mask / Usa tu cubrebocas
• Wash your hands / Lavar tus manos
• Watch your distance / Observa tu distancia

• We have completed a meticulous review of the new guidance for school operations during COVID from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Education. 
• The research upon which the CDC based their feedback is the same body of growing research our team has been using throughout the pandemic to guide our preparations. 
• Tulsa Public Schools meets or exceeds the new CDC standard in most areas. Examples include:
  • Installing advanced filtration and air scrubber systems that far exceed CDC standards;
  • Launching systematic health screening protocols for the adults in our system;
  • Publishing clear masking requirements and providing free, high-quality masks for every adult and student;
  • Installing hand-washing and sanitation stations and health and safety signage in all our buildings;
  • Establishing rigorous contact tracing and notification protocols to help minimize spread within and outside of the Tulsa Public Schools community; and
  • Offering ON-SITE rapid testing as a screening mechanism as part of our return to in-person learning. We are the only district in the state providing this additional mitigation measure on-site.