An employee of the Little Rock School District has tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed Wednesday.
District officials learned of the employee’s test result Tuesday, according to Pamela Smith, the school district’s communications director. The employee had not been on the premises since April 30 and showed no symptoms at that time, Smith said.
“The employee came into limited contact with other staff and was wearing a mask. The District immediately took the necessary steps to sanitize the area where the employee was working and followed our protocols,” Smith wrote in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Smith declined to disclose the employee’s name, job title and work location, citing the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — the health privacy law popularly called HIPAA — and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The school district is following Arkansas Department of Health guidelines, Smith said. She added that the district’s procedures for employees entering buildings include screenings for covid-19 symptoms.
The Little Rock School District and other Pulaski County public school districts have been closed for in-person instruction since mid-March. Gov. Asa Hutchinson on April 6 extended a prior order closing public schools across Arkansas and suspended on-site instruction for the remainder of the academic year.