Morikami Park Elementary, Boca Raton Community High School, Whispering Pines Elementary New Cases Omitted From Dashboard.
Parents Told They Must Choose Distance Or In-Person Learning Today. Decision To Last Through Mid-January.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — The highly publicized Palm Beach County School District COVID-19 Dashboard — promoted by the school district as proof of its transparency — hasn’t been updated for days. Its numbers are inaccurate, misleading, and omitting high-profile cases at Boca-area elementary and high schools.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned of several COVID-19 infections in South Palm Beach County that officials have known about for days, but haven’t reported on the “dashboard.” Those include a third case at Whispering Pines Elementary School in West Boca Raton, a COVID-19 infection at Morikami Park Elementary School in Delray, and a COVID-19 case at Boca Raton Community High School.
The stunning revelation that the school district is actively not reporting cases to the public comes as school superintendent Dr. Donald Fennoy set today — October 14th — as the ‘deadline’ for parents to lock-in “distance learning” or “in person learning” for their children for the rest of 2020. The school district transmitted this ‘tweet’ early Wednesday.
But parents contacting BocaNewsNow.com over the past week say there’s no way to make a choice if the school district isn’t being honest about the number of children and employees infected with COVID-19.
“This is crazy,” wrote a parent to BocaNewsNow.com. “The school district is lying. We have no idea what COVID really looks like in schools.”
BocaNewsNow.com has been reporting exclusively on the actions taken by one parent when the school district refused to alert her son’s classmates and teacher that the boy had tested positive for COVID-19. The mother of the Whispering Pines Elementary School first grader took it upon herself to notify parents and the teacher that her son was COVID-19 positive. The school district was notified on Wednesday (October 7th) of the positive test, but never told the boy’s classmates or teacher who continued “in person” learning on Thursday (October 8th) and Friday (October 9th). As of Tuesday — a week later — there was still no personal notification from the school, the school district, or the Florida Department of Health.
Palm Beach County School District spokeswoman Claudia Shea told BocaNewsNow.com over the weekend that the school district continues to work on notification procedures. Principals say they have been prohibited by the school district’s attorneys from alerting teachers and classmates of infected students.
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Does Palm Beach County School District Have A COVID-19 Dashboard?
Yes, but it’s been called “highly inaccurate” by media, administrators and medical professionals. The COVID-19 dashboard lags by several days and is omitting high-profile COVID-19 cases in Boca Raton and Delray Beach area elementary and high schools.
