Franklin Square, Elmont schools brace for Covid testing

Officials in the Franklin Square, Elmont and Sewanhaka school districts are coming up with plans to test students and staff members for the coronavirus in case any of the communities are designated a yellow zone under the state’s Cluster Action Initiative.

The program designates areas as red, orange or yellow cluster zones based on the number of Covid-19 cases and the severity of its spread. Nassau County communities that have 10 or more new daily cases per 10,000 residents on a seven-day average, under the state’s guidelines, and a rolling positivity rate above 2.5 percent for 10 days will be designated yellow zones; those with a positivity rate above 3 percent will be deemed orange zones; and communities with a positivity rate above 4 percent will be designated red zones.

Each designation comes with restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. Schools, for example, will also be closed for in-person learning in red and orange zones, and schools in yellow zones will have to test 20 percent of teachers, students and staff each week to continue in-person learning.

So far, no local school districts are in areas that have been designated yellow, orange or red zones, but district officials have already reached out to community members about the possibility of testing.

The Elmont and Sewanhaka superintendents sent letters to parents last week, informing them that they were looking to partner with laboratories to conduct on-site testing if the areas do become yellow zones, with an attached consent form for parents to sign. The parents may opt to have their children tested at their schools, at their doctor’s offices, at clinics or at free testing site and share the results with the district. If parents decline to sign the consent form or revoke their permission, their children may be required to continue their education remotely.

If a child tests positive for the virus at the school, Elmont Superintendent Kenneth Rosner said, district officials will notify the parents “as soon as practicable,” and if a child tests negative but has Covid-19 symptoms — or if parents have concerns about their child’s exposure to the virus — they should call their child’s health care provider.

Schools in yellow zones that do not reach the 20 percent testing benchmark will have to pivot to full-remote instruction until the yellow zone designation is lifted, according to Sewanhaka Superintendent James Grossane. The district would need to test 140 students and staff members at Elmont Memorial High School, 262 at H. Frank Carey and 166 at Sewanhaka High to meet the requirement.

“We do not have a timeline as to when or if we will be designated as a Yellow, Orange or Red zone,” Grossane wrote in a letter to parents last week, “however, based on the current numbers in our community, it is important to share this information with you as soon as possible.”

As of Dec. 4, 52 students and 11 staff members had tested positive for the virus in the Sewanhaka Central High School District since the school year began, according to data from the State Department of Health, while the Elmont School District had four students and four staff members who tested positive.

Both districts have had to close some schools and quarantine classes over the course of the year, with Elmont Memorial High School remaining closed through Tuesday after a staff member tested positive for the virus, and individuals at the Dutch Broadway and Covert Avenue school in Elmont being put in quarantine along with their classes last week.

In the Franklin Square School District, 11 students and three staff members have tested positive since it reopened in September, and district officials are now starting discussions about testing in the district, but are awaiting further guidance from state officials, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would strengthen the microcluster strategy.

At a news conference on Nov. 30, Cuomo said he would create a new “Emergency Stop” microcluster, which would effectively put an area under New York on Pause guidelines, but would also focus his efforts on keeping schools with students in kindergarten through eighth grade and those with special needs open, as long as it could be done safely.

“While the holiday season often brings joy to many, the increase in social activity and mobility will also bring an increase of viral transmission,” Cuomo said at the news conference. “We must adapt to this reality and have a plan in place that specifically addresses the challenges that come with it. We’ve been through the worst, and while we’re not done yet, we are moving forward with the lessons we learned in the spring to come through this together.”

Franklin Square Superintendent Jared Bloom said the district had operated safely since the school year began, with no spread of the virus inside the schools. “Everything we are doing in school is working,” he said at a school board meeting on Dec. 2., adding, “Our team is focused on doing everything we can to keep schools open.”