Informing School Community of a Covid-19 Case
- Published: 24 November 2021
The issue of whether or not a school leader should inform parents / guardians of a Covid case has generated much anxiety in recent weeks. The central issue for many school leaders, teachers and parents lies in their desire not to identify a child or staff member who has to be absent because of Covid 19. In addition to not wishing to identify a person or family, there are GDPR considerations forbidding the sharing of personal data without consent.
School leaders have come under a lot of pressure from parents, staff and even Boards of Management to release the personal data of individuals to the school community. The templates below are an amalgam of templates submitted by IPPN members which seek to:
- Reassure parents / guardians that the BoM and school leadership is taking all possible precautions to keep children and staff safe
- Inform parents / guardians that a case of Covid has been confirmed within the school
- Ask parents to be vigilant and alert for symptoms of Covid in their children.
IPPN strongly urges school leaders to discuss the contents of these letters with the Chairperson of their BoM before sending them to parents. Best practice would be to have the signatures of both Chairperson and Principal on the letters. Ideally the use of these letters would be discussed and approved by the BoM, where time permits, prior to communicating with parents.
