“We are approved to do COVID testing,” Rye schools boss Eric Byrne told the Board of Ed and the community at Tuesday night’s virtual meeting. “We as an organization can do testing ourselves.” He then held up the framed paperwork from New York State’s Department of Health.
Byrne reviewed the NYS Yellow – Orange – Red escalating micro zone cluster strategy, which MyRye.com readers will be familiar with at this point based on prior reporting. The State is apparently supplying the COVID tests at no costs to school districts, but Byrne was cautious when he said they were expecting the first delivery of COVID testing kits (a precautionary measure to be prepared) on Wednesday. Everyone seemed curious to see if the delivery will arrive on time or if at all. School staff will administer the tests.
“Yellow Zone testing – we’ve got that covered,” said Byrne, after outlining the testing requirements under that designation including the volume of testing and how the school intends to administer the tests.
A movement to the more serious Orange or Red designations would start to create more strain and more costs. The District is currently negotiating with outside testing partners who would provide both test kits as well as staffing test administration. It expects to report on the results of these negotiations at the next board meeting.
Perhaps most important Byrne mentioned how dynamic this situation is – the requirements, the guidance and the resources – all seems to be changing and evolving day-to-day. A pandemic roller coaster ride for everyone.
The COVID testing presentation is available for further review.
