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Date: 12/2/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – After delays due to a lack of staffing, support and supplies, South Hadley Schools officially began their Test and Stay program on Nov. 22.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mark McLaughlin and Nurse Lead Mary Walsh attended the School Committee meeting on Nov. 18 to present information on South Hadley Public School’s COVID-19 response, Test and Stay and vaccinations.
To begin, Walsh gave an overview of the Test and Stay program. Test and Stay allows COVID-19 close contacts to stay in school if they remain asymptomatic and receive seven days of negative COVID-19 tests.
A close contact is considered someone who was with a COVID-19 positive individual in school for 15 minutes or more, unmasked and closer than three feet.
Individuals who are considered a close contact but are vaccinated are exempt from the Test and Stay Program. Individuals who were closer than three feet to a positive individual but remained masked are also exempt. Individuals who were unmasked but greater than six feet away are exempt as well as those who have had COVID-19 in the last 90 days.
Walsh said that if a student is identified as a close contact they will be called out of the classroom and sent to a designated area with school staff. Staff will then explain the situation to the student and, if a student has consent from a parent or guardian, will be tested for seven days from the date of exposure.
The COVID-19 test is a shallow nasal swab sample taken using the BinaxNOW rapid antigen test. Meet Caregivers healthcare staffing agency will be providing South Hadley Public Schools a team of staff to complete the testing.
Walsh then stated the roles and responsibilities for parents or guardians when it comes to the Test and Stay Program. She said that, first and foremost, guardians should fill out the consent form for Test and Stay. They should be prepared to keep their children home if sick and also should be prepared to pick their child up in a timely manner if they test positive for COVID-19 at any point during the Test and Stay Period.
McLaughlin emphasized how important it is for parents and guardians to give consent for the program.
“The best way that you can make sure that your children don’t have to automatically have an interruption of school is to provide consent so that they don’t have to if they’re identified as a close contact. As we go deeper into the fall and winter, I think it’s fair to say the likelihood of that identification of close contacts is probably going to increase,” he said.
If the student is identified as a close contact and does not have consent for Test and Stay, they will have to quarantine.
“There is no choice,” said McLaughlin.
South Hadley Public Schools is following all necessary protocol and guidelines from both the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health