NORTHAMPTON – On Oct. 8, Northampton Public Schools sent out a letter to the district community that details specific scheduling changes to COVID-19 testing procedures in schools.

The district met with CIC Health and Adecco to increase staffing for testing and to spread out the testing schedule across three days a week. CIC Health is the organization offering comprehensive COVID-19 testing services to Northampton and other schools and organizations across the state. Under this new schedule, pooled testing will occur at Northampton High School (NHS) and Leeds Elementary School on Tuesdays, at JFK Middle School and Bridge Street Elementary School on Wednesdays, and at Jackson Street and Ryan Road on Thursdays.

According to Superintendent John Provost, Northampton Public Schools are currently participating in single-swab pooled testing, which means students are brought down by classroom or alphabetically to provide a swab that is combined with nine other swabs to create a pool. If the pool comes back positive, then the district proceeds with more testing to determine the cause of the positive tests within the pool.

In about two weeks, Provost said that the district is looking to implement double-swab pooled testing. This means that everyone will provide one sample for a pool and one sample for a reserve. That way, if a pooled test comes back positive, the district can use the samples that have already been collected from the individuals within the pool so they can identify where the positive test came from.

“CIC Health has been responsive to my requests for assistance with the pooled testing program in Northampton,” said Provost. “However, I know they are facing staffing shortages like all employers in all industries.”

As a result, Provost said that CIC is looking to double the amount of staffing that they are sending to the Northampton district since the program started a few weeks ago. Additionally, Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced that the state is activating around 200 members of National Guard to support COVID-19 testing in over 2,200 K-12 schools throughout the commonwealth. Provost said that while CIC continues their process of increasing staff, the National Guard members are currently filling in to alleviate some of the pressures on a short-term basis, especially since the district had to cancel three of their testing days a few weeks ago due to a shortage of staff.

“The pooled testing is a very high priority for our community; we have great participation rates,” said Provost. “We will be receiving a small number of guardspersons that will fill in gaps until CIC can solidify their workforce.”

When speaking on the scheduling and procedural changes, Provost said that there is currently not enough staff to support simultaneous testing at three different schools in the district, hence why the district decided to adjust testing to three days a week at two schools a day in the district.  “By going to two schools a day and spreading it out, we can cover the district with fewer workers,” said Provost.

So far, Provost said that he is very pleased with how the district has handled the unique circumstances, especially considering everyone is in-person at the moment. He believes that the testing program provides additional security to the community. The hope over the next few weeks is to implement a three-pronged testing program, where symptomatic testing can occur any time students experience symptoms of lesser concern throughout the school day. They are also hoping to implement the third component – test and stay – which would allow the district to minimize the number of students who are sitting out of school for testing.

As the district solidifies what testing will look like, Provost said that he is looking forward to the day when students under the age of 12 are eligible to get vaccinated. “One thing that’s been notable in our district this year that the disruptions caused from COVID [-19] have really been among our younger students who haven’t had the ability to be vaccinated,” said Provost, adding that the numbers at the middle and high school have been minimal. “Not that it’s been high, but we have had some positive pools, and those have come mainly from younger students.”

For the Hampshire Regional School District, Superintendent Diana Bonneville sent a statement to Reminder Publishing saying that the district’s health coordinator is currently working with CIC Health to accommodate staffing needs for pooled testing. As of press time, it was too early to tell where the assistance would come from, but Bonneville did say that she is pleased with the fact that the state has heard districts’ concerns about personnel support.