Town of Brookline Authorizes $500,000 to Support Testing of School and Town Populations
Of this amount, $300,000 will be used for weekly asymptomatic testing of student-facing PSB staff over the course of 8 to 10 weeks. The funding will also be used for testing students in grades 6-12 participating in hybrid learning.
Tests will be administered voluntarily, and staff and students will be notified of their individual results.
“We are pleased to be able to offer this resource for our school community,” Superintendent Marini said. “Protecting the health and safety of all Public Schools of Brookline community members is our top priority and while we are confident that the measures we have taken to date are highly effective in limiting in-school transmission, this program will also support that goal.”
“We are grateful to the Town of Brookline for its support in providing these important surveillance tests for our educators and staff,” said School Committee member and chair of the Remote Learning Task Force Susan Wolf Ditkoff, who led organization of this testing program for the committee. “These convenient new tests will ensure that our staff can monitor their own results every week. Real-time, system-wide information will also help provide specific steps and peace of mind for our entire school community. This testing is one more part of many investments that began in June that have improved our ventilation and HVAC systems, provided personal protective equipment for our staff, increased disinfecting and cleaning of our buildings, created procedures for distancing and cohorts, and many other safety precautions.”
Under the leadership of Coordinator of School Health Services, Patricia Laham, RN, staff are working diligently to finalize the logistics of the testing programs at this time. More information about the programs will be provided to all staff and families of grade 6-12 students in the near future
More info can be found here.
Wow, this is impressive. Now Brookline is offering weekly testing for asymptomatic teachers and students. Weekly asymptomatic screening testing is best practice for safely returning to schools. Newton is only offering testing once a month. This is not enough. The CDC published new guidance and they clearly state that “Weekly screening testing of select groups” is recommended for communities with positivity rates in the yellow category. Schools are listed as a prioritized group for this recommendation.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/open-america/expanded-screening-testing.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-testing.html
In October, the City Council offered additional funds to the School Committee and the Mayor to support in-person schooling, so if it is not the money, why is Newton not offering best in class weekly testing? The current plan of once a month for staff is not making best efforts. I don’t get it. Newton should be doing everything possible to make the schools as safe as possible for in person learning, weekly testing is one key pillar.
But if the tests are voluntary, what will this accomplish?
Also, based on some basic back of the envelope math, they only have enough funding to cover ~15% of students and staff. I guess that’s somewhat helpful? But this isn’t like the colleges where they are testing everybody, multiple times per week
My math: $300,000 for tests. $60/test, give or take. That’s 5000 tests.
Over 8-10 weeks, that’s 500-625 tests per week.
There are over 3,600 students in grades 6-12 in Brookline. There are 664 teachers in Brookline, so assume half of those teach 6-12. That’s about 4,000 people eligible for tests. So that’s ~15% coverage per week (500/4000 to 625/4000).
All my student and teacher numbers are from the DOE’s website.
Tim, I’d guess even voluntary testing would be welcomed by teachers and other staff as a way to reassure themselves. I’m sure more would be better, though. As Liz notes, the City Council seems to be on board for whatever steps are needed to help people through this period. And maybe we’re not talking about huge sums of money: Remember, as the vaccines are administered over the coming weeks–hopefully to teachers as a top priority–the need for testing by those who have been vaccinated will be reduced. So a larger investment in January and February could prove particularly prudent.
@Tim – actually the prices of tests are much lower than $60, closer to $10-15. There is a collaborative Safer Teachers, Safer Students: Back-to-School SARS-CoV-2 Testing Collaborative Pilot that is working to get prices very low per unit. Newton should be a part of this collaborative. Here is a link and a letter about the pilot.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/2020/10/14/mass-school-districts-parent-scientists-take-covid-19-testing-into-their-own-hands
https://www.scribd.com/document/480071152/Safer-Teachers-Safer-Students-testing-pilot
I’m not sure why it is voluntary but according to the CDC, this is the guidance for schools – so it must be some legal reasons – https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-testing.html
FROM CDC site:
“When testing is not recommended? If a school is implementing a testing strategy, testing should be offered on a voluntary basis. It is unethical and illegal to test someone who does not want to be tested, including students whose parents or guardians do not want them to be tested. It is not recommended to retest individuals who have tested positive and do not have symptoms for COVID-19 for up to 3 months from their last positive test. Data currently suggest that some individuals test persistently positive due to residual virus material but are unlikely to be infectious. Parents or guardians may request documentation from their health care provider to indicate the date and type of the student’s most recent COVID-19 test.”
This is what is happening currently at NPS
https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/newton-tab/2020/12/23/concerned-over-health-newton-teachers-glad-have-free-covid-tests/4011119001/
The pricing that Liz refers is correct. So, Brookline led the way with bringing in experts to study and reconfigure ventilation systems in their school buildings, Brookline led the way when they set up a testing site for their Town employees and school employees, students and residents, although at a cost for asymptomatic people, Brookline led the way for getting people back in schools (not without a lot of controversy) and now Brookline is leading the way with weekly testing for schools. Newton leads the way in telling us how complex things are, how hard everyone is working, but we still are dealing with the ventilation problems and we do not have a testing system in place. Once a month is not appropriate and seems like a bone being thrown to people to make them feel safe. Let’s follow Brookline’s lead and make our City safer for everyone.
Asymptomatic pooled testing can be done for $10/test.
Has anyone heard an update on this testing site that was supposed to open “soon”?
https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/same-day-covid-test-open-chestnut-hill