Thank you for your continued partnership as we continue to manage COVID 19 in our school buildings. In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we have been working closely with the Maine Department of Education to implement a free COVID-19 pooled testing program for students and staff in RSU 25 for the 2021-2022 school year. Pooled testing involves collecting several individuals’ test swabs together into one “pool” and then testing the pooled sample for COVID-19. This approach increases the number of individuals that can be tested at one time and allows us to regularly test our school community for COVID-19.
The benefits the pool testing program will provide are:
1) monitoring of the prevalence of COVID 19 in our schools,
2) provide a proactive process to limit the impact and spread of COVID 19,
3) participants in the program are not required to quarantine if they are considered a close contact to a positive individual and they are not symptomatic.
Pooled testing will be performed once per week, using a shallow nasal self-swab for all participating students and staff members. We will receive the pool results within 24-48 hours. If the result of the pool is negative, then all individuals are presumed to not have COVID-19. If the pool returns a positive result, all individuals in the pool will be retested using the Abbott BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Test.
You will be notified if your child requires follow-up testing. Individuals with no symptoms and a negative rapid test will no longer be required to quarantine. RSU 25 will report all follow-up test results to the Maine CDC’s reporting system.
To allow your student to participate in the COVID-19 Pooled Testing Program, including consent to pool test, consent for any necessary follow up Abbott BinaxNow Rapid Antigen tests, and consent to share test result information with the Maine CDC, please complete the attached permit and return it to the RSU 25 Central Office.
We are extremely grateful to our committed students, staff and families that continue to show great flexibility and resilience as we navigate through this school year. It takes all of us working together to contain the spread of this virus. Pooled testing as another mitigation strategy for our school community.
Permission Link: http://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com//minor-consent
Access Code: C25U3O (NOTE: Last character is uppercase O, not zero)
Parent/Guardian Instructions: Guide for Testing Consent
If you have questions regarding the COVID-19 Pooled Testing Program, please reach out to the office of the Superintendent (469-7311) or contact one of our school nurses