Name: Back online, Texas data on school coronavirus cases omits lots of districts
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Back online, Texas data on school coronavirus cases omits lots of districts

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As a growing number of coronavirus cases are reported in Texas public schools, the state is changing how it provides that information to the public, citing privacy concerns — changes that make it more difficult for Texans to identify school districts where outbreaks occur.The Texas Education Agency and Department of State Health Services on Wednesday released a spreadsheet of coronavirus infections in school districts, after last week because of inaccuracies. The latest numbers are confusing for a different reason: officials decided to “suppress” data from any school district that had fewer than 50 students in classrooms during the first week of classes.That means the state is reporting 9,857 total coronavirus cases among students and staff in public schools statewide — but only 7,130 of those cases are linked to specific districts. It’s unclear, at least for now, where the rest of the roughly 2,700 positive tests have occurred since late July, when districts began reopening on different weeks and at varying paces.More for youData from more than 300 of the state’s 1,200 school systems have been excluded from the district-by-district display — almost every school district in Bexar County and some of the largest across the state, including Northside and North East ISDs in San Antonio; Houston and Katy ISDs in the Houston area; and Dallas and Garland ISDs in northern Texas.School districts report their classroom enrollment and new virus cases every week to the TEA. The state plans to update the spreadsheet based on new classroom enrollment data from the fourth week of school — when many districts will report thousands of students who weren’t there the first week.Until that happens, the missing data adds more ambiguity to publicly available information that was already of limited use because it tallies infections by school districts, not campuses.“The suppression is to protect the privacy of a person,” said DSHS spokeswoman Lara Anton. “There are some school districts with a very small number of students on campus, and reporting those case counts might help identify the person.”MORE COVID DATA MISHAPS:It’s the same reason the state suppresses some immunization data in schools, she said.Some districts have their own COVID-19 tracking dashboards, which students and parents can easily access online, even as their data is excluded from the state’s tracking sheet. Administrators also must report every new case to local health authorities and to parents of every student in the school where it is found.“Districts can put this information out publicly — that is their choice,” TEA spokesman Frank Ward said in an email. “But there is a difference between notification (which every member of a local community receives when a case is reported) and trend data tracking (which is provided statewide). Wherever applicable, the state must adhere to privacy laws.”He cited potential Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) violations.Those exceptions have made advocacy groups and experts question the utility of the state’s data. Many schools do not require coronavirus testing, meaning the state’s tracker could underrepresent the true scope of infections.“Privacy is important, but in this case the notification and safety of students, school employees and their families are more important,” said Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, adding that the state should also begin reporting cases on individual campuses, not just by district, to better track the spread of the virus.The total number of cases reported on campus still makes up a fraction of the students and staff who have returned to classrooms this academic year. The 5,725 confirmed student cases represent about half a percent of the roughly 1.1 million students who have participated in on-campus activities since July.A total of 4,132 staff have tested positive for the coronavirus since schools began opening.On ExpressNews.com:Because enrollment figures on the spreadsheet only reflect the first week of school, numbers may not be reported for a district that began in-person classes a week or more after school began.North East ISD, for example, started virtual instruction on Aug. 17 but began accepting students for face-to-face instruction on Sept. 8. Katy ISD began online on Aug. 19 and welcomed students in person on Sept. 8.At Northside ISD, more than 18,000 students have returned to the classroom after an initial online launch. District officials say they did not know why their case numbers do not appear in the state database — their data was included in last week’s launch, albeit with some inaccuracies.Northside has recorded 15 student cases and 48 staff cases since the beginning of the school year, said district spokesman Barry Perez. Data for school staff is also kept off the state spreadsheet for any district that had fewer than 50 students on campus the first week of school.“We submitted the data,” Perez said. “We have not changed anything in our reporting protocols, which are the same protocols we had been advised on in the very beginning.”North East and San Antonio ISDs, as well as Pasadena ISD in Harris County and Plano ISD north of Dallas, were similarly confused when their data was not published. State officials said they automatically suppressed information for districts that didn’t hit the 50-student enrollment threshold, regardless of the size of the district, to apply the standard evenly.Ward, the TEA spokesman, said districts will soon be able to update enrollment numbers to reflect their fourth week of instruction, and any district that had more than 50 students on campus at that time will be included in the state’s spreadsheet.The updated data will be available the week of Oct. 12, he said.Staff writer Andres Picon contributed to this report. Cayla Harris is based in Austin covering Texas state government and politics. To read more from Cayla, . | Twitter:

As a growing number of coronavirus cases are reported in Texas public schools, the state is changing how it provides that information to the public, citing privacy concerns — changes that make it more difficult for Texans to identify school districts where outbreaks occur.The Texas Education Agency and Department of State Health Services on Wednesday released a spreadsheet of coronavirus infections in school districts, after last week because of inaccuracies. The latest numbers are confusing for a different reason: officials decided to “suppress” data from any school district that had fewer...

Back online, Texas data on school coronavirus cases omits lots of districts

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