Parents knowingly send COVID-positive child to class, forcing 75 NorCal students into quarantine
CORTE MADERA, Calif. -- It was a Thanksgiving break unlike any other for dozens of families at a school in Northern California this year.
Around 75 students at Neil Cummins Elementary School had to quarantine after parents of one student at the school knowingly sent their child to class after they had tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Brett Geithman is the district's superintendent.
He says school officials only found out about the positive case after getting a call from Marin Public Health asking why the student's infection hadn't been uploaded to the school database.
"We learned that that student was never reported to us, and that that student had been attending school for the last seven days," Geithman said.
Following the discovery, Geithman says the school took immediate action.
"Parents received a text message the night of the 18th to then bring their child to the gym so that we could conduct testing before anyone entered the classroom," he said.
Overall, eight students tested positive, with all cases being reported by the following night.
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Geithman says the school district has been very clear about COVID procedures since the start of the pandemic.
"In terms of an explanation of why they chose to continue to send their children to school, their initial explanation was that they were uncertain of the COVID protocols," Geithman said.
Despite the outbreak, the superintendent says the system in place works and that the situation is now under control.
Several parents told us that the incident has been shocking, but that they believe it is more of a one-off occurrence.
Many, like Jill Martay, say they're happy with how the superintendent handled it.
"I just have such great respect for the role and the job that he's done with our community here," she said.
