Dear Massena Central School District Community,

The start of the school year is upon us! As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, St. Lawrence County and its schools are committed to a safe return to in-person learning for our students.

This can only be achieved if the County, public and private school systems, parents, and students work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools and keep one another safe. This is especially important given the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant.

As part of this effort, Massena Central School District is pleased to announce that we, along with schools across St. Lawrence County, will be partnering with St. Lawrence County Department of Health’s testing partner Quadrant Biosciences, to offer the County’s FREE COVID-19 screening testing program.

The program relies on two testing strategies:

● Voluntary weekly testing of students, vaccinated teachers, and vaccinated staff

● Mandatory weekly testing of all unvaccinated teachers and staff

This method will allow early detection of COVID-19 in pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. Early detection means we can better stop the virus from spreading in schools. Preventing school outbreaks is key to ensuring our schools stay open to provide the education and support our children need.

All unvaccinated students are highly encouraged to participate in this free, school-based COVID-19 screening testing program. The program will use non-invasive, self-collected saliva samples that are appropriate and painless for all ages. Samples will be processed using accurate and reliable PCR analysis—the gold standard of COVID-19 testing— to identify positive cases.

Please see the graphic below for more information about the Clarifi COVID-19 saliva test we will use.

If you would like your student to participate in voluntary screening testing, please read and complete the COVID-19 student test consent form for each student in your household. We hope to being testing in the next few weeks, so please submit the consent form by Tuesday, September 21st. Once you consent, Massena Central School District will be in touch with more details regarding the testing program.

Sincerely,

Patrick Brady

Superintendent of Schools