WCPS employee tests positive for COVID

A Wayne County Public Schools Maintenance Department employee has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in contact with Central Office staff and other members of the Maintenance Department before he became aware he had the virus, according to several people who either know or work with him.

And because of what they described as the district’s new sign-in protocol, multiple Maintenance Department staff members, who have been vetted and verified as WCPS employees by the New Old North, said they are concerned about their ability to work moving forward.

“The results came back (Monday), and it was positive. Now, 60 guys who have worked around him are curious as to what will happen next,” said one employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. “For the past two weeks, we have had to say (by signing in electronically) that we haven’t been around anyone who has COVID-19 for the past 14 days. Just how are we to do this? It would be a lie for us to just clock in so that we could get paid.”

The district declined to confirm the positive test — even when given the opportunity to avoid identifying the employee — citing privacy laws.

But last week, the Wayne County government notified the community when an individual inside the Wayne County Courthouse tested positive for COVID-19 — and disclosed that as a “proactive measure,” the Clerk of Court office would be closed, and the entire courthouse was being “completely sanitized.”

The New Old North posed several questions to district officials about their policy on reporting positive tests to the community and what steps WCPS will be taking to make sure schools are properly sanitized.

WCPS schools on the non-traditional calendar are set to open to teachers Thursday, with students returning Aug. 12. Traditional calendar schools open to teachers Aug. 10, with students returning to class Aug. 17.

Among the questions asked were:

• Given the fact that maintenance employees work inside schools, and that this employee began showing symptoms last week, have the 12-month employees at those schools been notified? What is the protocol for them?

• Will the schools that maintenance employees have been working inside over the last week be deep-cleaned between the date of the positive test (Monday) and the day teachers return (Thursday and Aug. 10, respectively)?

• If the Maintenance Department employees who came into close contact with this individual are still working — our sources say they are — are they being allowed to enter school buildings?

• Has the school board been notified about the positive test out of the Maintenance Department? Have any school board members been exposed to any Maintenance Department employees?

So, will the public be informed if a staff member or student tests positive for the virus?

Wayne County Public Information Officer Joel Gillie said that should a positive test result come back, the Health Department would begin contact tracing — as it does for all positive tests in the county. But whether or not the information is disclosed is left up to “the private business” — or, in this case, WCPS officials.

The district’s Public Information officer, Ken Derksen, did not respond directly to the New Old North’s questions other than to reiterate that WCPS would not be confirming or denying whether there was a positive test because of privacy concerns.

Derksen did say, however, that the Health Department would also weigh in on whether or not closing particular classrooms, or entire school buildings, would be necessary in the event of a COVID-infected employee and provided the following screenshots to illustrate how the district would respond should a WCPS staff member — or person who has been in a Wayne County school — test positive for the virus: