Dear Penn-Delco Parents/Guardians:
Thank you for your ongoing support of our programs as we work hard to commit to mitigation strategies that successfully combat COVID-19. PDSD understands COVID-19 is not going away as quickly as we all hoped. The district recognizes that it has caused a meaningful disruption to student and staff activities due to required quarantines of close contacts; quarantines of asymptomatic persons that can be better addressed through a Test-to-Stay approach.
A Test-To-Stay program allows students and staff, who are identified as close contacts in school during COVID-19 contact tracing and are asymptomatic, to continue to remain at school for work and learning. The program permits staff or students to avoid the onerous long-term quarantine from school by taking a routine COVID-19 BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen test over a period of time in which a student would otherwise be kept from school.
School districts throughout Delaware County, such as Penn-Delco, are excited to implement a program that will enable students without symptoms to continue to attend school while testing negative and following other COVID-prevention steps such as masking.
Beginning Monday, if your child is identified as a COVID close contact, within school, and is asymptomatic, your child has the option of remaining in school provided you agree to our approved Test-to-Stay program. Details are as follows:
A Close Contact Student who does not exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 may remain at school if:
- The student shall be entirely asymptomatic without any signs or symptoms of COVID-19.
- The student shall wear a mask indoors when at school for the entirety of the Test-to-Stay program, even if all test results are negative.
- Upon notification of an in-school school related exposure of COVID-19, the student will begin a series of three COVID-19 rapid antigen tests during a 10-day period (between days 1 and 2; days 3 and 4, and days 5 and 7). If there is a challenge in wearing masks, a fourth testing cycle is implemented during days 8 and 10. Further, at any time if COVID-19 symptoms arise in an individual during the first 10 days of close contact, the individual will need to leave school and get a PCR test.
- If a positive test occurs, the student will need to leave school and isolate for 10 days.
Other important points:
We are excited to add this additional tool to our repertoire of mitigation strategies to combat COVID-19 and to strengthen our support of in-school learning and programming for all our students and stakeholders. We will begin to implement this strategy beginning on November 8, 2021. (Students currently required to quarantine must finish their existing quarantine assignment in accordance with Test-to-Stay requirements).
Again, thank you for all of your support during these unprecedented times. Our goal is to keep our schools and programs open to the greatest extent possible for in person learning by continuing to implement strong COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
Sincerely,
Amy Bell
Supervisor of Special Education and Pupil Services
Pandemic Coordinator
Penn Delco School District
abell@pdsd.org
