To promote educational excellence, the Alabama Education Association serves as an advocate for its members and leads the advancement of equitable and quality public education in Alabama.
AEA Fights Negligent Medical Practices
Alabama School Journal | November 2020
Recently, there have been several complaints across the state regarding doctors and other medical professionals writing excuses for students to allow them to return to school before their Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH)mandated quarantine periods expired. Upon hearing this, AEA immediately took action and sent a letter to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners addressing the problem.
Based on the CDC and ADPH guidelines, a person must quarantine for 14 days if they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. UniServ Director Rick Bailes has received numerous complaints in Tuscaloosa County about students returning back to school early and believes there may have been miscommunication between doctors and patients – resulting in students returning before their quarantine period is over. “We are not blaming the entire medical profession for this matter but I do believe some doctors do not know the students have been sent home to quarantine and are being told to write the notes so students can return back to school,” Bailes said. The practice of allowing students back into schools before their quarantine period expires causes countless students and school employees to possibly be infected by students with COVID-19 or who were close contacts of people with COVID-19.
If educators get sick because of students returning early from quarantine, there will be no one available to teach students. “Teachers touch the lives of every person in every profession,” said Bailes. “We have to do whatever we can to protect their health and safety.”
AEA has been working with the ADPH and the State Department of Education. However, given the nature of this matter, local superintendents and school nurses were placed in a difficult position in trying to determine how best to protect all students when medical professionals said otherwise. Although no particular doctor was named in the letter, AEA is meeting with the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.
If you see issues like this occurring in your system, please contact your local UniServ Director.