Health and Safety FAQ
You have questions and we have answers! Here is a running list of pandemic response related FAQs. If you have additional questions, please send them to Lynette, who will respond and update the FAQs.
Please stay out of school until all family members are healthy. We suggest taking a home test to find out if the illness is COVID-19.
Symptoms vary, but these are the symptoms to watch for:
Fever of 100.4° F or higher, now or in the preceding 24 hours (or would have, but have used fever reducing medicine)
Cough (for students with chronic cough due to allergies or asthma, a change in their cough from baseline)
Difficulty breathing (for students with asthma, a change from their baseline breathing)
New onset of severe headache, especially with a fever
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Diarrhea or vomiting
If you choose to be tested, we need a copy of the results, positive or negative, for record-keeping purposes, even if it is a picture of a home-based test. Please send a picture of the results via text to 817-274-1548 or email Linda.
Oh no! Hopefully, your family’s case will be mild. If your child tests positive COVID-19, please notify TMA and remain out of school. We will be in touch with further instructions about the return date.
Because this answer is an ever-changing one, please see the CDC’s website for the latest guidance.
No. People can continue to test positive for up to 3 months after diagnosis and not be infectious to others. Researchers have found that the amount of live virus in the nose and throat drops significantly soon after COVID-19 symptoms develop. Additionally, the duration of infectiousness in most people with COVID-19 is no longer than 10 days after symptoms begin and no longer than 20 days in people with severe illness or those who are severely immunocompromised.
We do not have to follow TEA public school guidelines. TMA will continue to follow our protocols regarding notification of the affected classroom if there is a positive student or staff case and complete contract tracing within the TMA community.
When community transmission is high, masks are required indoors for adults and elementary students. While we do not require masks for students in the Toddler or Early Childhood programs, parents are welcome to have their children who are 2 and older wear a mask to school.
We will treat a mask as an additional piece of clothing for students, reminding them when it is appropriate to remove or replace their mask.
We cannot offer refunds or discounts for classroom closures, though we are no longer required to close classrooms due to a COVID-19, so closure is very unlikely.
Parents are welcome to observe their child’s class from the hallway through the window.