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Date: 12/30/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – With COVID-19 cases rising at a steady rate, the East Longmeadow School Committee voted to approve the district’s participation in the “Test and Stay” program during their Dec. 20 meeting.
Before the approval, Superintendent Gordon Smith detailed reasons why the district should consider the implementation of the program. The superintendent shared that he and Nursing Director Kelly Labombard discovered a rise of students considered close contacts to COVID-19 cases. “Unfortunately, those students then have to quarantine at home…This program is designed to help with that situation,” said Smith, who highlighted the program’s ability to keep students in school while they continue to test daily as close contacts.
Smith highlighted the “Test and Stay” programs role as one of the three Department of Education and Secondary Education (DESE) testing programs. Along with Symptomatic Testing and Pooled Testing, each of the three facets are optional in participation for each district, with students and staff members required to sign a consent form for participation, according to Smith.
In detailing the programs, Labombard supported the need for Symptomatic Testing. “I think it would be helpful. We’ve had 64 positive cases in the first three weeks of December,” said Labombard. The health director also stressed the impact “Test and Stay” would have with close contact students and staff, sharing that 101 close contacts in December could have remained in school if the program was in place.
School Committee member Gregory Thompson expressed his willingness to embrace the “Test and Stay” program, but noted concerns with the Symptomatic Testing. “The symptoms that would be triggering the test are more than just sniffles or a little cough even. If [students or staff] are that sick, they should probably go home anyway,” said Thompson, who stressed that the program works more to keep students in school rather than preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Amidst the dissenting opinions, Smith relayed his views on how the “Test and Stay” program would be put in place. With the district not being sizable enough for National Guard deployment, the superintendent explained that assistance for the program would come and go through different districts as testing needs intensified. The temporary help would also be supplemented by hired employees to guide the process, according to Smith.
The committee then discussed ways they could potentially implement the program, including the consideration of a centralized testing location, ways to expedite the process, defining leadership for the program and securing staff from medical agencies like Cambridge Innovation Center to assist in training.
After lengthy debate, the East Longmeadow School Committee unanimously approved the addition of the “Test and Stay” program. The committee decided not to add Symptomatic Testing and Pooled Testing, but did iterate that the former could be considered in the future for testing staff.