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By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune October 17. 2014 3:28PM Medford school officials calm parent concerns over Ebola Medford school officials Friday held a press conference to address parent and community concerns over the distant threat of Ebola in schools, saying the district was already in contact with local and state health authorities to plan for any possible cases. Superintendent Brian Shumate said district officials were "actively involved" in monitoring the status of the outbreak overseas and are in communication with families of students traveling internationally.  The press conference was the second held by public officials in the Rogue Valley this week in response to growing fears over a domestic outbreak of the Ebola virus, which has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa this year. Jackson County Health Officer Dr. Jim Shames said Thursday that the risk of the virus making it to the valley is very low, largely because of the screening procedures already put in place at major ports of entry from the continent. Tania Tong, the district's student services supervisor, said district officials are currently going through a state-level webinar hosted by the Oregon Nurses Association. Officials were also scheduled to take part in a conference call with the Oregon Health Authority later in the afternoon. The reality of the situation, said School Board Chairman Jeff Thomas, is that excluding symptomatic students from school doesn't mean they won't expose people at a grocery store or other public place. When asked if he could confirm rumors — published earlier in the day by another media outlet — that students from Senegal would be starting school in the district, Shumate declined. "I certainly can't discuss any particular family," he said. He did say that there were no "foreign exchange" students moving into the district from countries in West Africa. The Associated Press reported Friday that the World Health Organization had declared an end to the Ebola outbreak in Senegal because the country had passed the 42-day mark — the maximum incubation period for the virus — since the last case was detected in that country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only a single case had been identified in Senegal since the outbreak began. Shumate said that the district has been in regular communication with Jackson County Health and Human Services, but indicated educators were trusting the screening procedures put in place at hospitals and transportation hubs. "If somebody is not showing symptoms, and they haven't been exposed to things, they have a right to an education," Shumate said. "We're educators, not health professionals." Reporter Thomas Moriarty can be reached at 541-776-4471, or by email at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter: @ThomasDMoriarty .   http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141017/NEWS/141019669 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->