San Benito Consolidated Independent School District notified the public last week Thursday that it has fully responded and cooperated with the Cameron County Public Health Department notification of a single confirmed Tuberculosis case at San Benito High School.
In a press release, the SBCISD noted that the Cameron County Public Health Department is solely responsible for tracking this case as a public health issue as required under Texas Department of Health guidelines.
The Cameron County Public Health Department has provided all the professional medical guidance for addressing this one single confirmed case. Its recommendations were critical and necessary so that San Benito CISD could proceed with the identification of students and staff that needed initial testing, the District’s press release indicated.
The Cameron County Public Health Department is also the entity that conducted the Tuberculosis testing and San Benito CISD made the accommodations.
District officials state that the Cameron County Public Health (CCPH) Department notified San Benito CISD, on March 27, that an individual at San Benito High School had tested positive for Tuberculosis (TB).
The San Benito CISD Administrative Team immediately began to coordinate with CCPH to initiate all protocols necessary to address this case. On March 28, CCPH representatives met with the Texas Department of Health officials to determine the next steps of identifying potential exposure and to develop testing guidelines for those students and staff at San Benito High School and Veterans’ Memorial Academy.
On Tuesday, April 2, San Benito CISD administrators and Cameron County Public Health staff met to share the recommendations of the Texas Health Department. The recommendations were to conduct an environmental assessment of the SBHS HVAC (air) systems and review the identified classroom spaces. That assessment was completed on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, April 3, San Benito CISD, in coordination with CCPH, identified, reviewed, and verified the list of students and staff recommended for TB testing. CCPH assisted SBCISD in creating the list of students that met the criteria for TB testing.
Identified on that list were (148) SBHS students, (12) VMA students, and (six) SBCISD staff members.
The parents of those students and the SBCISD staff members were emailed the SBCISD notification letter, the Cameron County Health Department letter, the parent consent form for TB testing, and an informational notice of TB, officials noted. All the documents were provided in English and Spanish. The notification email was sent on Wednesday, April 3 by SBCISD.
“It is important to note that if a notification email was not received from San Benito CISD, other SBHS and VMA students and the additional SBCISD staff were determined not at risk of immediate exposure to this Tuberculosis case by Cameron County Public Health Department and San Benito CISD,” the District’s press release reads.
Those parents of students and SBCISD staff receiving the TB notification email were offered the following: 1. A parent meeting was held at the San Benito High School Library on Thursday, April 4 at 5:30 p.m. Both SBCISD administrators and Cameron County Health Department staff were there to share TB testing information and answer questions.
2. TB testing was conducted by CCPH on Monday, April 8 at the San Benito High School Gymnasium between 9 a.m. and noon. The test was highly encouraged for those on the list of students and staff. The testing required parent consent for minor students.
3. If the students are not able to take the test on Monday, the students and parents will need to be tested at the Cameron County Public Health Department.
Both San Benito CISD and the Cameron County Public Health Department followed the FERPA and HIPPA guidelines with all students and staff identified on this list.
Currently, with the professional medical guidance from the Cameron County Public Health Department, San Benito CISD has identified all the potential students and staff that need this TB testing. Attached is an English and Spanish handout from Cameron County on Tuberculosis (TB) for your review.
“Please self-assess your child’s or family member’s current health and if they are experiencing any Tuberculosis symptoms, please contact your medical provider for guidance,” reads the press release.
Individuals having any questions concerning this series of testing are encouraged to contact the CCPH at (956) 574-8753.
San Benito CISD does not release any confidential information of students and staff as detailed by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
1 comments
When a school has a HIGH ILLEGAL ALIEN population, then you have to deal with Third World diseases.