The Baker-Polito Administration says widespread COVID testing for public school students and staffs is finally coming in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, some parents with the time and financial resources had implemented their own testing. They created the model that the Administration is now going to replicate and expand. Public school parents in Harvard, Wellesley, and Needham implemented their own testing systems run by volunteers and funded with private fundraising in the absence of testing by the state. https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/state-launching-weekly-school-covid-testing-initiative/
Their testing reassured families and teachers that returning to classrooms is safe; it provided important peace of mind. Identifying people who are carrying and potentially spreading the virus, even if they don’t have symptoms, is critical in building confidence that schools are safe. The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents has expressed frustration about the lack of a statewide plan for weekly surveillance testing in public schools. By the way, many local higher education institutions and some local K-12 systems implemented broad testing of students and faculty last fall because they realized it was necessary to safely re-open face-to-face education.
In recent months, up to 100 private individuals, including school superintendents, school committee members, school nurses, and local Board of Health members, have participated in weekly Zoom calls convened by Wellesley parents on systematic COVID testing in schools. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/31/metro/frustrated-with-governments-virus-response-citizens-are-building-their-own-testing-programs-its-working/
The failure of the Baker-Polito Administration to host such calls and to plan and implement broad school-based testing reflects managerial incompetence and a lack of leadership. This failure has not only put people at risk and delayed students getting back in schools safely, it has also exacerbated inequality. Many of the suburban parents who created these testing programs are well aware that it’s their financial and social privilege that has allowed them to do so, for the benefit of their privileged children. The Administration’s failure to provide this testing in all school districts exacerbates, once again, the inequalities experienced by non-white and low-income students and their families.