Several Bay Area school districts are considering temperature checks for students and staff — that is, if they reopen physical campuses for the start of the new school year.
In a press event on Wednesday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond mentioned temperature checks among the preventative measures he expects schools to use in order to keep students safe. Other measures are likely to include face coverings for students and staff, and physical distancing on buses and on school campuses.
Thurmond said the California Department of Education would issue guidelines for how schools can reopen in early June. He did not address who would pick up the costs for these measures at a time when districts are facing budget cuts in the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
In West Contra Costa Unified School District, teachers will be asking the district for temperature checks to be in place as part of several demands it has yet to present to the district, according to Demetrio Gonzalez, president of the United Teachers of Richmond.
Temperature checks have been used by schools that have reopened in other countries such as China and Singapore, where they advise two temperature checks a day and students also take their own temperatures.