Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Parents Create COVID-Screening App for Schools

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 07/21/20

Dr. Brian Benson, a family physician and his wife, Kaley Benson developed a symptom-screening software for schools, reports a local news station.

The parents have three kids who attend Louisiana Key Academy, a charter school for children with dyslexia. The school is the first in the region to return to the classroom with new safety protocols in place.  

To aid in a safe reopening, the Bensons created a software called Cleared4School, which is currently being used at LKA. Each school day a parent answers 11 questions related to COVID-19 symptoms, including if their child has had a loss of taste or smell in the last three days. Once the parent has finished the survey and cleared, the child is able to enter the building.

 “You feel more comfortable trusting your child in that environment, and the teachers feel more comfortable because all of the kids have been screened,” Kaley told news station, WBRZ2.

The online program relies on the honor system. According to the Cleared4School website, no symptoms and no names are recorded.

The Bensons are talking to other school districts to see if they would like to implement the software.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey

    Spaces4Learning recently launched the 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey, which collects data on the previous year’s K–12 and higher education construction projects nationwide.

  • University of Rochester to Break Ground on New Student Life Center

    The University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., recently began construction on a new Student Life building, according to a news release. The first floor will contain campus-wide gathering, program, and rehearsal space; the second floor will play home to the Greenbaum Center for Jewish Life.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Lawrence Group Announces Three New Hires

    Integrated planning and design firm Lawrence Group, based in St. Louis, Mo., recently welcomed three new staff members, according to a news release.