Ridgefield Public Schools Announces Screening Program Project COVID DeteCT

In collaboration with the Connecticut State Departments of Public Health and Education (DPH and CSDE), Ridgefield Public School District is participating in a no-cost, voluntary COVID screening program entitled Project COVID DeteCT for unvaccinated students in Grades PreK-6.

 This program is funded through a federal grant to provide weekly screening and will not cost the district or family any money, nor will the family’s health insurance be charged for the screening services. 

The purpose of this letter is to ask your permission to regularly test your child as part of a pooled testing program at our school. Regular screening testing is a safe, effective way to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many people with COVID-19, especially children, don’t have symptoms but can still spread the virus, and thus regular screening helps find infections before they can spread to others. This is especially important for children under 12 years old who are not yet able to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The district is partnered with Quest Diagnostic Labs who will be visiting each elementary school and middle school in the district on a predefined day and time each week.  Children whose parents have electronically signed the consent (see below) for their child(ren) to be screened/tested each week will be brought to the screening testing room in the school each week by a staff member. 

The technicians from the testing lab will assist the students with self-swabbing (or complete swabbing for those students who are unable to self-swab). The Q-tip swab is inserted into the lower nasal passage and twirled around in the child’s nostrils.

Please note that this is not the “brain tickler” test that many people experienced during the early days of the pandemic.  This process will take a short amount of time out of the learning day each week.  Each swab is then taken by the lab technician to the lab and tested using the highest standard PCR molecular COVID test.  

Individual results will be provided to the parent(s) via text and email, as well as to the school and DPH, within 24-48 hours.

If you’re interested in having your child(ren) participate in this voluntary program:

  • Please log into your PowerSchool account to sign the consent form and opt your child(ren) into this voluntary program.  
  • Once logged in, choose the student who you want to provide consent for.
  • Once you have arrived at the individual student page, scroll down and choose “COVID-19 Test Consent” in the navigation panel on the left hand side of the page.
  • A signed consent form will cover the duration of Project COVID DeteCT.

We will be hosting a live google meet session for parents on Wednesday, October 13 from 2-3 pm to discuss this program and answer your questions. Please RSVP to indicate that you’re interested in attending the information session via this Google Form, and a Google Meet link to log on will be emailed to you. 

Visit RPS online here.

R
Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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