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Staff & Faculty

Staff and faculty member health is a key component of the successful operation of school programs. The Canutillo District’s preventative approach to keeping teachers and staff healthy will involve 3 types of measures:

  1. Strengthening individual’s resistance to infections
  2. Infection control and prevention by structuring and managing routine practices and environment, in order to reduce the likelihood of contact with germs that might cause infectious disease
  3. Exclusion, when indicated

1. Strengthening Resistance to Infection

Measures that foster health and well-being make people better able to resist infectious diseases.

Routine Health Assessments

It is highly encouraged for teachers and staff to regularly visit their health care provider for a wellness and physical exam to ensure that they receive recommended preventative health services and address any chronic health conditions.
 

Immunizations

Adults who work in K-12 schools have a higher risk of exposure to infectious disease than if they only interacted with their own family and community. Staying current on all recommended adult vaccines helps minimize the risk of illness from vaccine-preventable infections.

Care for Chronic Health Conditions


Adults with chronic health conditions, such as asthma and diabetes, are more susceptible to infection if their medical condition is not under good control. Individuals with special health needs should regularly visit their healthcare provider and adhere to their plan of care to help them better resist infection.

Stress Management


Poorly managed stress can affect staff performance and increase the risk of infection and injury. Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way will help the individual, the people they care about, and those around them become more resilient.

Healthful Activities


A healthy worker is better able to resist infectious diseases.
The CISD employee wellness program emphasizes nutrition, physical activity, safety and well-being among district staff.

2. Infection Control and Prevention

Implementing routine practices as well as structuring and managing the school environment can help to reduce the likelihood of contact with germs that might cause infectious disease.

Space and Physical Distance


Having enough indoor space for air to circulate among children and adults in the room reduces the concentration of germs in the air and on surfaces. Maximizing the distance between individuals in a group reduces the sharing of germs.

Hand Hygiene


Germs on hands are often transferred by touching the hands to the mouth, nose, eyes, other body openings, or surfaces that other people touch. Proper hand hygiene is key in the control of infectious diseases. Handwashing with soap is preferred over any other method. If washing with soap and water is not possible, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers is an acceptable alternative.

Cough and Sneeze Etiquette


When a person coughs into the air, they can send germs out as far as 3 to 6 feet in front. If a person coughs into their hands, they could transfer germs from place to place when they touch something else. Using a tissue to cover the mouth and nose, or coughing into your elbow if a tissue is not available reduces the risk of spreading disease-causing germs.

Surface Hygiene


Surface hygiene removes germs from surfaces that are likely to be contaminated during routine use and contact with body fluids. Routine cleaning and sanitizing or disinfecting when indicated, decreases the number of surfaces and areas where germs can be spread.

Standard Precautions


Teachers and staff members should use barriers, like disposable gloves or a mask, and techniques that minimize contact with potentially infectious body fluids and tissue discharges. Spills of body fluids should be cleaned up immediately to reduce the spread of potentially infectious material.

3. Exclusion

Exclusion of Adults Who are Ill


The administrator or director or his or her designee should be responsible for observing all adults in the school or facility for signs of illness. This observation is similar to the daily screening tool for children. When a staff member develops signs of illness, the administrator or director should evaluate the situation to see if the person needs to leave or can stay with some accommodation. Certain conditions warrant temporary exclusion of an ill staff member and are similar to the reasons for exclusion of children. Staff should be excluded if they are unable to participate or perform the functions required to carry out their role or if their illness is considered to be a harmful communicable disease by the school nurse or the local health department.