STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The city’s plan to conduct random coronavirus (COVID-19) testing at public schools throughout the current academic year, beginning this month, has parents outraged — with some stating they will not allow their kids to be tested in school.
“Every school is doing this testing monthly,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference in September. “It is random. I want to be clear about that — so it’s a mix of members of the school community who will be tested every month. Every union is going to work out their specific approach to it.”
Parents told the Advance/SILive.com that they’re uncomfortable with their children being tested without being present, citing concerns over the testing process and who will have access to the results.
“We don’t want to go full remote; we want to put some kind of normalcy into his life. I want to give hybrid learning a chance,” said Stacey Favara, of Annadale, referring to the city’s blended learning model, in which students return to their school building one to three days per week, learning virtually the rest of the time. Parents also have the option of students learning remotely full-time.
Favara’s son is a seventh-grader at Elias Bernstein Intermediate School (I.S. 7), in Huguenot, and she said she feels that testing should only be done if a student exhibits symptoms — calling the randomized process “scary.”
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New York City students began returning to school buildings for the 2020-2021 academic year as part of a phased-in approach, with middle and high school students starting their return this past Thursday.
Students in 3-K, pre-K, and District 75 were the first to begin reporting for in-person learning — re-entering buildings on Sept. 21, followed by K-5 and K-8 students this past Tuesday.
CONSENT TO TESTING
Parental consent is required for the testing of any student under the age of 18.
If a student does not receive parental consent for testing, or refuses to take the test, the student will be moved to the remote learning cohort, according to the United Federation of Teachers. Any staff member who elects not to participate in random testing will be placed on unpaid leave, according to the city Department of Education (DOE) and the union.
The testing was originally slated to begin Thursday, Oct. 1, however, de Blasio announced at a press conference this past Tuesday that the program will not begin until next week, explaining that the consent forms are currently being distributed to parents. He urged parents to return the forms right away.
“Along with that consent form, we’re asking parents to go ahead and send it back, or if they have concerns, raise them and we’ll get them answers, but we want as many kids as possible to get into this testing approach as quickly as possible,” the mayor said.
SUFFICIENT SAMPLE SIZE NEEDED
After the mayor’s announcement, NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza elaborated on what mandatory testing means and how it will work within a school.
“Providing our testing partners with a sufficient monthly sample size to identify the prevalence of COVID-19 is critical in our ongoing fight against this virus, and to ensure we can keep school communities in school buildings for in-person learning,” Carranza said.
Students who do not have parental consent for testing may be required to move to remote learning if the total number of consent forms is not enough — based on the size of the in-person community, he said.
The randomized monthly medical monitoring program will test anywhere from 10% to 20% of the school community. The size of the sample will depend on the population of the school, said Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior adviser for public health.
The size of the school’s in-person community will determine the percent of the population needed to be tested:
- For a school with a base population of 0-499 = 20%
- For a school with a base…
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