Around the Schoolyard

COVID-19 Testing 

Patrick C. Daly, Ed.D. 

Superintendent of Schools,  North Reading Public Schools

This week I will be sharing information with the North Reading Public Schools Community about an opportunity to explore COVID-19 testing for symptomatic staff and students in our schools. This initiative is a part of a larger initiative from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) who recently announced “an initiative to deliver 150 million Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Point of Care (POC) SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic tests to schools and other strategic environments.”

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has informed districts of the opportunity to participate in Phase I of this trial as Massachusetts “will obtain approximately 2 million tests for use in priority settings including but not limited to public districts, charter schools, educational collaboratives, and approved special education schools.”

 

DESE explains that “Phase I is intended for districts and schools providing any type of in-person instruction, such as full-in person or hybrid instructional models or in-person services for high needs students.” 

What would this process look like in our schools?

Currently, when a student or staff member is in school and presents symptoms of COVID-19, the person is assessed by the school nurse and then dismissed and instructed to take a PCR test, which is the “gold standard” for diagnosing COVID-19. Following receipt of those test results the district is able to respond to any positive cases and begin the process of contact tracing. However, it can sometimes take up to 2-3 days to receive this information. 

If the district were to participate in the BinaxNOW initiative we would have access to the rapid tests, which are antigen tests, and we would have the results within 15 minutes. Both positive and negative tests would require follow up tests, but since the “false positive rate” is quite low we would be able to identify positive individuals, and their close contacts, much more quickly and act accordingly to isolate and quarantine those individuals.  

Should students and staff still remain home if they are sick?

Absolutely! Having this additional resource in our schools should in no way impact whether staff or students should attend school or work if they have symptoms. However, it is possible that students or staff may begin to exhibit symptoms during the school day and this is when this in-school testing would be utilized.

Will all staff and students be required to participate?

We will confirm that there is an opt-out process for students or staff who do not wish to participate or provide consent for testing. These students and staff would follow our current procedures and be dismissed from school and await the results of the PCR test.

What are the next steps in the process?

I will be hosting a forum on December 8th for parents, guardians, and staff and presenting at the Board of Health on December 9th and at the North Reading School Committee on December 10th. This Around the Schoolyard article is an additional communication to the community about our exploration of this opportunity. Recordings of the December 8th presentation as well as the School Committee meeting will be available on the district’s website in the coming days.

We will consider input from parents, students, staff, administrators, and educators, as well as the Public Health experts and School Committee as we make this decision. There are a series of checklist items that we would need to complete in order to participate, including a standing order issued by our District Physician and a certificate of waiver from the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

Thank you to our entire school community

Finally, I would like to thank our students, families, and all of the staff in North Reading for their  support this year. Since this pandemic began our Town Administrator, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Public Health Nurse, Director of Public Health and I meet at least weekly to discuss all matters related to COVID-19 and our community.  Our school nurses and school physician have been so helpful in our decision making process and in their tireless efforts every single day. I truly appreciate the collective efforts of everyone involved in helping us make our school environment as safe as possible for our students and staff.

More information about the BinaxNOW testing is available here: https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/BinaxNOW/