By Kayla Cheung and Kevin Perez
Three weeks after Miami Lakes Educational Center (MLEC) opened its gates for in-person learning, the first presumed student case of COVID-19 was announced.
This positive case makes MLEC the fourth public school in the Miami Lakes area with a reported positive case, where Barbara Goleman Sr., Miami Lakes Middle, and Miami Lakes K-8 Center have all asked groups of students and teachers to quarantine. The case also accounts for the 113th case reported on the Miami-Dade County Public School’s COVID-19 dashboard as of Thursday afternoon, adding to the case outbreak that has occurred at the District level since the first week of on-campus school started.
For many MLEC students, including those that attend physical school, the news does not come as a surprise.
Without any confirmation on who the student is due to privacy concerns, parents were informed about the case through an automated call from the school administration after school ended on Thursday. In the recorded call, school principal Mr. Fernandez stated that there was a self-reported positive test from a student attending physical school, elaborating on how the school has already contacted the teachers and parents of students who might have come into contact with the infected individual.
During the call, Fernandez also assured parents, students, and staff that the student who tested positive and those who have come in contact with them will not be permitted to return to MLEC’s campus until they have been granted clearance by the Health Department. This is effective per contact tracing techniques utilized by the school district.
Lastly, he stated that the school is undergoing extensive cleaning, which mirrors what other schools have undergone in the past weeks as positive cases have been reported.
As of now, on-campus classes continue as scheduled.
At the moment, MLEC’s on-campus student population is at less than half of its Pre-Covid capacity. But despite the school’s constant sanitation and security-personnel-backed social-distancing guidelines, this news has arrived as not much of a surprise from students who have attended MLEC physically since the District’s reopening.
Following the Connect-ED call that was placed out to the families of every MLEC student, Cambridge Sophomore Angelo Aguila exhibits no sense of urgency or worry.
“It’s fine and it was only [in] a matter of time that it happened…. Other schools have gotten it and the cases are also rising for schools with cases,” states Aguila.
There will be more information on this case in the coming days, but as of right now, three things are certain: students and parents have been notified by MLEC that there has been a positive case on campus, those who have been in close contact with the student have been instructed to quarantine, and MLEC will be extensively sanitized during this long weekend.
