BRYAN, Texas — There is a viral post going around on social media that claims your children could be taken away from their schools and parents would not be allowed to see them if they show symptoms of COVID-19.
Bryan ISD says this post is anything but true.
The copy-and-paste re-post is aimed at parents and asks, “what happens if your child gets quarantined at school and taken to a quarantine facility?”
It then poses a scenario claiming your child could taken to a facility where their parents would not be allowed to see them.
“The thing that alarms me most about that is, it presents itself as this one size fits all scenario," said Bryan ISD's Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Matt LeBlanc."Something like that would never happen at Bryan ISD. They’re nowhere near reality.”
Bryan ISD says their district, like many others in Texas, have totally different policies than those posed in the scenario in that post.
Firstly, to avoid anyone coming into a school with symptoms, they are encouraging parents to self screen themselves and their kids.
“If you have any of those symptoms, or if you find out you were in contact with anyone else with COVID-19, you need to stay home to self quarantine, and if symptoms show up, you need to talk to a physician,” LeBlanc said, “and that’s not coming from Bryan ISD. That’s coming from health officials.”
Additionally, if a school staff member notices a child might be sick at school, LeBlanc said nobody is taking anyone's child away.
“Let’s say we have a child at school and midway through the day they start showing some of these symptoms," he said, "we’re going to have them go down, talk to the nurse, we have an area specifically for that. The parent is going to be called immediately.”
He said nobody is taking anyone to get tested, and if a child does seem sick, their parent is going to have to pick up that student.
If a parent gets their child tested and the results are positive, TEA guidelines mandate the school has to send a letter home to all students.
Through these viral social media claims though, BISD just wants people to be cautious.
“Anytime you see that, maybe you read it, and get a chuckle out of it, but take it for what it is," LeBlanc said, "and if you really want to know what happens inside of a school, the best thing to do is talk to the school.”
Bryan ISD welcomes any questions parents have about procedures, and you can find a lot of the answers on their website.