A program to offer weekly pooled COVID-19 testing for students and educators is starting in Massachusetts this month, with 120 schools and districts signed up to participate so far, according to education officials.
Those 120 schools and districts represent more than a quarter of the state’s public school students, said a spokeswoman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Schools and districts will start testing as close to Feb. 8 as possible, said Jackie Reis, the spokeswoman. Some districts could start this week. DESE will continue to accept applications for the program through the end of the month.
Boston, the state’s largest district is among those participating. At this time, Worcester and Springfield are not listed as part of the program.
Education officials announced the testing program last month, part of an effort to keep more children in school amid the pandemic. With pooled testing,10 nose swabs from one classroom or cohort of students and staff will go into one tube to be tested together at the lab. If the pooled sample is negative, all the individuals are presumed negative. If the pooled sample comes back positive, all the individuals will be re-tested with the rapid test. The person with the positive sample and any close contacts would then need to isolate and quarantine.
The pooled tests cost at least 75% less than the cost of an individual test, officials said. Districts with some form of in-person learning were prioritized, but remote districts could still apply.
DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley previously said that the department will cover costs for testing during the initial phase of the program, which is estimated to be between $15 and $30 million and will be funded by federal stimulus money. The schools and districts participating will receive the test kits, support from a testing service provider and the testing software to track results at no cost until March 28.
After the initial launch, districts can continue pooled testing by purchasing tests through a statewide contract using federal stimulus dollars.
In late January, DESE said that 302 schools and districts, including 213 out of approximately 400 public school districts statewide, had expressed interest in the program.
Here are the 120 schools and districts currently signed up to participate:
- Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public District
- Academy Of the Pacific Rim Charter Public District
- Acton-Boxborough
- Amherst
- Amherst-Pelham
- Andover
- Arlington School
- Arlington
- Ashburnham-Westminster
- Assabet Valley Collaborative
- Attleboro
- Ayer Shirley School District
- Barnstable
- Bedford
- Bellingham
- Belmont
- Berkshire Hills
- Billerica
- Boston Collegiate Charter District
- Boston Preparatory Charter Public District
- Boston Renaissance Charter Public District
- Boston
- Braintree
- Brockton
- Brooke Charter School District
- Brookline
- C.A.S.E. Concord Area SPED Collaborative
- Cambridge
- Canton
- Carver
- Christa McAuliffe Charter Public District
- Clinton
- Codman Academy Charter Public District
- Community Charter School of Cambridge District
- Community Therapeutic School
- Compass School
- Concord
- Conservatory Lab Charter District
- Dover-Sherborn
- Dracut
- Duxbury
- East Bridgewater
- EDCO Collaborative
- Everett
- Fall River
- Fitchburg
- Four Rivers Charter Public District
- Framingham
- Francis W. Parker Charter Essential District
- Franklin
- Frontier
- Gardner
- Gloucester
- Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational Technical
- Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical
- Greenfield
- Groton-Dunstable
- Hamilton-Wenham
- Hancock
- Hanover
- Haverhill
- Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public District
- Hingham
- Holliston
- Holyoke
- Hull
- Lawrence Family Development Charter District
- Lexington
- Lincoln
- Littleton
- Longmeadow
- Lowell Community Charter Public District
- Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter District
- Lowell
- Manchester Essex Regional
- Manville School
- Map Academy Charter School District
- Mashpee
- MATCH Charter Public School District
- Medfield
- Medway
- Melrose
- Millbury
- Monomoy Regional School District
- Monson
- Mount Greylock
- Nashoba Valley Regional Vocational Technical
- Natick
- Nauset
- Newburyport
- Newton
- North Adams
- North Reading
- Northshore Education Consortium
- Palmer
- Pelham
- Phoenix Academy Public Charter High School Lawrence District
- Pioneer Charter School of Science District
- Prospect Hill Academy Charter District
- Provincetown
- Quabbin
- Quaboag Regional
- Quincy
- Reading
- River Valley Charter District
- Rockport
- Salem Academy Charter District
- Salem
- Scituate
- Sharon
- Stoughton
- Sudbury
- Tantasqua
- Waltham
- Ware
- Wayland
- Westhampton
- Westwood
- Willow Hill School
- Winchester
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