Lakehead Public Schools is waiting for more information about the rollout of more rapid antigen COVID-19 tests for students before the holiday season.
The province announced on November 18th that each kid will take home the kits with participation being voluntary, and any child who does not take the tests will be allowed to return to school in January.
Superintendent of Education AJ Keene isn’t sure what the rollout will look like, but is going on the assumption that each board will get the package and will distribute accordingly to schools based on enrollment numbers.
Keene added that on a conference call last week with officials, it sounded like this shipment to the boards will arrive by Friday, December 10th with a week to turn them around to the individual schools before the Christmas Break.
The board is still waiting for a shipment of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that they previously requested for some pilot schools.
“We know that the province announced that they are providing enough tests for ten per cent of school population,” Keene noted. “We don’t know when those will arrive, I get the question from the (Thunder Bay District) Health Unit, and I put that out to the principals and they say nothing has shown up yet. The shipments haven’t been very regular, they just sort of show up, we don’t get an announcement saying when they have arrived or anything like that.”
Keene noted that in terms of virtual assemblies for elementary students, that practice will continue as the board made that decision to start the school year as a pre-caution.
The Lakehead Public Board can also adapt to a full semester for high school students quickly should they get the thumbs up to do so from the Health Unit before February 2022.
