Pooled COVID-19 Testing in
Boston Public Schools
An additional safety measure we are taking to keep our students, staff and community safe as we return to the classroom.
To our BPS Community,
During the month of March we will be welcoming students into the building for hybrid in person learning. In addition to our existing safety measures like masks, hand washing, and distancing, we are adding a free weekly COVID-19 testing program to help keep our students, staff and community safe and help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The testing program is being rolled out across Boston Public Schools and is offered to all students and staff free of charge.
This website contains information about the testing program and how it works! To participate, please refer to the email you received from your child’s school and sign the appropriate consent form.
It has been a difficult year for everyone and we are so grateful to be in a position to bring more students back to the classroom. This testing program will help us do it in a way that is safe for students, staff, and our community. The program is optional, but we hope you will participate to help us stop the spread of COVID-19.
Yours,
Boston Public Schools
Answering your questions about pooled testing!
Click the questions below to jump to the answers
Why are we doing this?
Salem Public Schools Pooled Testing Program
A routine screening testing regimen means regular (e.g., weekly) testing of your entire population, or a portion of your population. Routine screening programs help detect positive cases before they become outbreaks and enable schools to stay open with confidence, or know when they might need to temporarily shut down.
Routine screening does not replace other mitigation measures, such as social distancing and face masks. It’s just one piece of the puzzle!
How does pooled testing work in schools?
For the best chance at early detection, highly sensitive molecular tests should be used. Pooled testing offers a way to do this at scale affordably. In pooled testing, swabs from multiple people are mixed together and tested as a single unit called a pool. Using pools of 10, a lab can test 100 people by only running 10 tests - making regular testing programs efficient and affordable.
If the pool is negative, then all individuals in that pool are ‘clear’ and may continue to attend classes or their work at the school. If the pool is flagged as positive, then we know that there is at least one individual in that group who is positive for COVID-19. Now, we must individually retest this pool of 10 individuals to determine who is actually positive for COVID-19.
Does it Hurt?
Not at all! If you got tested earlier in the pandemic, you might have had one of those long brain tickling swabs. THIS IS NOT THAT!
It’s so easy, even very young students can do it themselves.
Learn how to do a nasal swab from a 2nd grader
Who is doing the testing?
We’re partnering with CIC Health for our testing
The program is a part of a state-wide pooled testing programs that more than 50% of schools in Massachusetts are participating in.
CIC Health manages the process. They send the tests to the Broad Institute, which is right in Cambridge and is one of the most experienced COVID-19 testing labs in the country.
What happens if my student tests positive for COVID-19?
Your student will first be tested as a part of a pool. If the pool test comes back negative, you will not hear anything. No news is good news!
If the pool test comes back positive, your student will receive a follow-up test. The follow-up tests are the same easy nasal swab as the original test but instead of testing 10 students at the same time, they just test one student. You can view the results of all follow-up tests by making an account on your school’s testing software platform.
If your student tests positive on an individual follow-up test, you will be contacted. We provide you with instructions for you and your family to quarantine and get connected to necessary medical care. In some cases, depending on the follow-up test that was administered, your student may need to get a confirmatory test.
How do I give permission?
You will also receive the form to sign up from your child’s school. Look for an email.
You can access the consent form in many different languages here.
English Consent Form
Spanish Consent Form
Chinese Consent Form
Haitian Creole Consent Form
Cabo Verdean Consent Form
Vietnamese Consent Form
Portuguese Consent Form
French Consent Form
Arabic Consent Form
Somali Consent Form
As with most school programs involving your kids, you will need sign a permission slip. You only need to submit one form to give consent for testing each week. The form grants BPS permission to administer the pool test, administer and report any follow-up tests, and transmit information electronically through our partners’ secure systems - including to local public health authorities as required by the law.
A Week in the life of a school testing program
Here’s how the program might work each week in your student’s school.
Example School Pooled Testing Weekly Schedule
