MA Launching Coronavirus Testing Program For Schools

MASSACHUSETTS — The state will offer weekly coronavirus testing for schools in an effort to get more students back in class at a time when some districts face resistance from teachers who say they feel unsafe in the buildings.

Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday the pool testing will be made available to all schools and districts in the state in the next month. The state will pay for the launch period — about six weeks — at an estimated cost of $15 million to $30 million, after which schools can pay for the service through a state contract.

"Pool testing will provide additional safeguards to stop the spread and give students, parents, teachers and staff confidence that it is safe to be in schools," Baker said. "And this new testing will give school officials more knowledge about what's happening inside their buildings every day.

Teachers, students and staff can take a test once a week through the voluntary program, officials said. Samples will be taken up by short swabs up the nose.

Every 10 samples will be put into one tube, which will be tested at a lab. Results will be transmitted to districts about 24-48 hours after they are received. If a pool sample tests positive, the 10 people in that group could be individually tested for the virus.

Baker and state education officials have long advocated for students to get back in class, at times pressuring districts to bring in as many students as possible.

"We can't wait for everybody to get vaccinated before our kids get back to school," Baker said.

Many districts have met resistance from teachers unions who say their members feel unsafe.

"There's been concern from the teachers unions without question," state education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Friday.

The testing program was welcome news for school districts.

"This is the kind of leadership we've been hoping and praying for from both the governor and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education," Melrose School Committee Chair Ed O'Connell told Patch.

The Melrose teachers union this week said its members do not want to return to class until a testing program is put in place. The state program would keep the district from having to establish and fund one — for the near future, at least.

"What we've received up to this point has been various guidance and memos, but other than that a whole lot of hectoring, quite frankly, that we should be doing what's necessary to get kids back in school," O'Connell said. "This proposed pool testing is finally giving us a tool and resources to really make that happen"

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced public schools in the state reported 431 new COVID-19 cases among students and staff for the weeks of Dec. 24 to Jan. 6, which included the winter break.