COVID-19 Testing

The Governor's Cluster Action Initiative and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) requires schools providing in-person instruction to test specific percentages of in-person students, teachers, and staff for COVID-19 if the school is in a designated yellow, orange, or red zone, in order to hold in-person teaching. There are two kinds of tests for COVID-19: the PCR test and the antigen test (also known as a rapid test). Both tests require a specimen (sample) be collected (taken) from the person being tested. (The exact method of potential testing for IRCSD is not yet known.) The sample is then tested to find out if the person has COVID-19. How a sample is collected depends on the type of test being used.

Please be advised that if the Indian River Central School District (the District) is designated as part of a “Yellow Zone” by the NYS Department of Health, the District will be required to test 20% of its in-person students and employees over the two-week period immediately following the announcement of a yellow zone designation that encompasses our school district.

Twenty percent of the students and employees at IRCSD will be randomly selected for testing in the first two-week period immediately following the announcement of a yellow zone designation. If the results of the testing reveal that the positivity rate among the 20% of those tested is lower than the yellow zone’s current 7-day positivity rate, testing at that school will no longer be required to continue. However, if the results of the testing over the first two weeks reveal that the positivity rate among in-person student, staff and faculty is higher than the Yellow Zone’s current 7-day positivity rate, the school will be required to continue to test 20% of the in-person population on a bi-weekly basis.

The District is seeking your consent to test your child for COVID-19 infection. If you consent, your child may be randomly selected to receive free diagnostic test for the COVID-19 virus. A rapid BinaxNow COVID -19 test will be used, which will involve inserting a small swab, similar to a Q-Tip, into the front of the nose (not deep into the nasal cavity). Results will be available within approximately 15 minutes. Details of the test can be found here. If your child has a specimen collected for testing at school, we will send information home to let you know. COVID-19 test results will generally be provided within 24 hours, and positive test results will be communicated immediately via direct contact. (Please contact your child’s doctor immediately to review the test results should your child test positive for COVID-19.) Any students who test positive must be kept at home until meeting Jefferson County Health Department criteria to return to school. Schools can accept written test results from healthcare providers.

If at some point, the district does not have enough participation from in-person students and/or employees to test 20%, the district will be forced to go to full remote instruction until no longer in a yellow zone.

At no time does a staff or student's decision to be tested (or not) as part of a zone-designated 20% minimum specifically prevent attendance for that individual. Rather, the district must demonstrate a 20% minimum testing rate over two weeks to remain open.

Parents, Guardians, and Staff - Please refer to your ParentSquare account for a message and link to the random COVID Testing Consent Form. A paper version of the consent form is also available from each school building office.

Thank you!