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Department of Education restates quarantine rules for schools and defers epidemiological data requests to health agency
Summary
Johnny Key told lawmakers the quarantine guidance remains similar to last year: a close contact is within 6 feet for a cumulative 15 minutes, vaccination and consistent masking can alter quarantine requirements, testing after day 5 with return on day 7 is an option and positive cases require 10 days isolation; Key said the Department of Education does not hold state-level data on quarantine effectiveness and referred requests to the Department of Health.
Johnny Key of the Arkansas Department of Education briefed the committee on this year's school quarantine guidance and answered questions from legislators.
Key said a close contact is defined as someone who was within 6 feet of an infectious person for 15 cumulative minutes or longer during a 24-hour period. He said individuals who recovered from COVID within the prior three months and are asymptomatic need not quarantine, and that fully vaccinated asymptomatic individuals (two weeks past final dose) may not have to quarantine. Key said consistent, correct masking by both the infected person and the contact can also avoid quarantine.
Key described the testing-and-return option: under CDC changes, a quarantined person who remains asymptomatic can test after five days and, if negative and still asymptomatic, may return on day seven. He confirmed the isolation period for a confirmed positive case is 10 days, with return contingent on symptom status.
On metrics, a legislator asked whether districts should report close contacts that originate in-school versus outside school and whether to standardize reporting of quarantines avoided because of mask use. Key said those metrics are useful and are used by larger districts and by health-consult teams, but that standardizing them statewide would be resource-intensive and may overwhelm smaller districts. Key said the Department of Health may hold epidemiological data measuring quarantine effectiveness; the Department of Education does not maintain that dataset.
Lawmakers also asked about enforcement and penalties for nonreporting. Key said he was not aware of statewide penalties the department issues; districts may have local policies and failure to comply with the law as committed in accreditation submissions could result in probationary status determined by the Arkansas Board of Education.
Key said the department primarily manages FERPA-related privacy and had received no reports of HIPAA or FERPA violations tied to vaccination incentives.
