How To Sign Your Child Up For Pooled Testing In Stoughton Schools

STOUGHTON, MA — Stoughton Public Schools have partnered with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Department of Public Health to implement free COVID-19 pooled testing for students and staff.

Pooled testing begins March 10 and involves mixing people's test samples together and testing the pooled sample for COVID-19. If the pool comes back positive, its members are individually tested. This increases the number of people that can be tested at once and allows the district to regularly test for COVID-19, Superintendent John Marcus said.

"Regular testing of students and staff will help us lower the risk of the disease throughout our district by finding and isolating individuals who have COVID-19 quickly, even before or if they never show symptoms," Marcus said in a letter to parents. "We have confidence in our safety protocols including masking, distancing, and sanitization. The weekly pooled testing program is just another way we are striving to keep our school environment safe for everyone."

The program is voluntary for all students and staff. Tests are performed once per week in each of the schools using a shallow nasal swab. Marcus said schools will receive the pool results within 24-48 hours.

If a pool result is negative, then all individuals within that pool are presumed negative. If a pooled test result is positive, those individuals will be notified and will have a BinaxNOW rapid antigen test with their school nurse, with results available in 15 minutes.

If you would like to have your child participate in pooled testing, submit this consent form.