How Did Testing Go For You?
I am hearing not-so-good experiences about yesterday's SPS testing of students. I saw comments at a Facebook page from parents; I have heard nothing about staff experiences.
The two themes I heard were long lines and lack of organization.
Anyone else have a better experience?
Samples:
We are at Hamilton and giving up. kids have been waiting about 45 minutes and only moved half a block. The line is down to Wallingford playfield.
Did a drive by our middle school the line is 3 blocks down!!Was at McClure and we left. It is crazy busy and unorganized.
I wish they had just sent the tests to our local schools so we could collect them and perform the tests ourselves at home. At least the rain stopped for a bit so maybe people didn't get soaked in the downpours we had today.
We were at their Sunday testing site (South Shore PreK-8 School) yesterday!!! It was a pain, 4 hours in total! Big superspreader event for sure...
Whitman is done. We got in a looooong line at 2pm and were unfortunately turned away after almost an hour wait.
I did the math and assuming that they could complete 1 test per minute at each site, they could only do about 4% of all the SPS kids today. In reality they probably tested far fewer. It's such poor planning/communication to suggest to parents that the tests would be "available" for walk-in at these sites.
Comments
Hindsight is 20/20, and I know this was done very quickly, but I see other school districts doing this around the country and I'm betting it worked pretty well. Regardless, thank you to the staff and volunteers to who did their best with the situation Sunday and yesterday.
Tester
We just threw away the tests after they were done.
My school was not a testing site. Why not just hand out the tests to people as they waited in line?
This was just thrown together by district over the last few days of break so I don't really blame anyone at the building level. I have no idea what constraints they were under but as usual there seem to be a bit better way of doing things.
Theo Moriarty
-Rainier Mom
Anti-Gen
That created a lot of confusion. Was it a requirement? A suggestion? Even possible? The district could be clearer about whether this is required or not.
Clear Communications
BLUE SKY
Critical
Seattle is not above politics. We did not follow the science when we kept schools closed last year. We caved to anxious teachers and race baiting. Blue states/cities provided ONE HALF the in-person instruction than red state. I don’t agree with all the mask-free, vaccine fear lingering of red states, that’s just irresponsible. But we failed our kids big time last year. BLUE SKY, we should be ashamed, not smug.
Botched
The rapid home kits are popular and by word of mouth and people use it so they can socialize at gatherings. The problem is testing for antigen relies on timing and making sure you do it properly so the result is usable. If you think you were exposed, testing too soon before you get a high enough level of antigen for the test measurement, if you were infected, will give you a negative result. You then go to the party or to school, then later assumes it’s the latest gathering that’s the culprit vs. you were already infected. If you were never symptomatic, but infected, you could be spreading it all along.
The thing is normal healthy people should get their vaccinations, practice good preventative measures, and avoid the test mania. Ironically, the people who needs it most are low paid wage earners exposed to the public all day long who can’t afford to buy self testing kit and employers who won’t cover at work testing for them.
We lost track of balancing public health needs vs. individual needs a log time ago. This pandemic is prolonged because of it. It has produced extreme positioning and much of it is due to various competing political interests. I know SPS is dealing with pressure by staff to go on line since the Fall. Students and families OTOH mostly want in person. This tension is reflected in the workplace too. I have family in LA and my nieces and nephews, along with other staff and other students, are tested frequently at their schools since school started in the Fall.
SPS mom
A staff member drove through difficult conditions to obtain test kits. Thank you.
Inslee wants to keep schools open. Washington state will be spending $50M for
Covid tests. Districts will have access to tests. Washington will benefit from both state and federal efforts regarding test kits.
FDA has approved approximately 400 tests. There are multiple channels to obtain these kits.
The board and district need to take Chris Jackin's advice and start talking about substitutes. Thus far, board meetings have lacked crucial information to keep schools opened.
The board and district need to start purchasing N95 masks for students, too. There are multiple channels to obtain masks.
critical
The idea about "SPS policy" right now is interesting, though. Yes, there are criteria and policies, but when to test kids, where to eat lunch, how to distance, all the actual application seems to be up to individual principals to figure out. Some schools are testing classrooms on a rotating basis, some just on demand. Some eat lunch outside, some in. (The district kindly provided us with a 20x20 foot tent for our 500+ kids to eat under.) Distance while eating varies. Everyone just has to figure it out on their own.
There might be policy on paper, but there is no application in terms of practical support to buildings.
Seattlelifer
" The C.D.C. has advised schools to avoid quarantines and closures by using a protocol known as test-to-stay, in which close contacts of positive virus cases take two rapid antigen tests in a week; only those who test positive must stay home."
Some districts had this challenge when tests were mailed out:
"But many districts, including Chicago, said they did not have nearly the number of rapid tests they needed. And despite a shortage, the district bungled an effort to test students over winter break. It mailed out roughly 150,000 P.C.R. tests. Most were never returned, and of the 40,000 or so tests that were mailed in, a majority produced invalid results."
SPS parent
Common Sense
Its better to have remote learning for a couple of weeks to let Omicron pass, with some semblance of an education, than to have students come to school to sit in an auditorium quietly as multiple classes are herded into a single room due to lack of teachers.
Can't blame the district. Its the nature of the virus. And the nature of the pandemic. There already are staffing shortages prior to folks being out sick with Omicron (because of folks choosing to leave the job market - this is not a teacher issue - all sectors of work are affected). Omicron will make it quite challenging for the next few weeks.
BLUE SKY