Grand Island, NY (WBEN) With endorsement from the CDC and now New York State for 'test to stay' programs aimed at keeping more students in classrooms, there are still skeptics and some resistance to expanding the concept.
During an update on the status of COVID in the Buffalo Schools, Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash announced he's not ready to sign off on 'test to stay' and doesn't fully understand the concept or its benefits.
The superintendent of the school district that has taken part in a pilot program with the Erie County Health Department says the 'test to stay program' has worked.
Superintendent Brian Graham says out of 244 tests conducted, only two came back positive. Those students were identified as having a close contact to a person who tested positive for COVID. "What we like to do is take the 242 results and multiply it by a school day and that equates to 1,452 instructional hours that were maintained for our students, and that is amazing," says Graham.
Graham says he has two ways to convince wary superintendents. "The first thing I would do is bring together a collaborative team to not only look at my district, but Monroe County. The results are almost identical," says Graham. "For the collaborative team I was looking at, I'd have them look at Massachusetts and Utah which have been doing this since the start of the year. The results are identical. Schools are safe, period."
Graham says test to stay is getting support from the CDC and the state. A question that has come up is getting enough testing supplies. "It looks like we're going to get a lot of support from New York State to have access to the tests," believes Graham. "Once we have access, how do we operationalize the test to stay in a small private school in Erie County and a large public school district like Buffalo, and I think what we need is flexibility that will come from the state."
The test program began December 6th.
