Test To Stay Program Confusing Parents in Western New York

Note from the editor: This story has been updated and edited with the latest information from the Lancaster Central School District. Their full press release on the Test to Stay program can be found by CLICKING HERE. 

Some parents are having trouble understanding the Test to Stay programs that have been rolled out to several WNY school districts.

I spoke to a parent in the Lancaster School District that has a daughter enrolled at one of the elementary schools. In an email that was sent out to parents, she believed that if children found out they have COVID-19, they can still attend school if they are asymptomatic.

This is not accurate but shows the confusion going around about this topic.

Children who have tested positive for COVID-19 must quarantine. If your child had close contact with the infected person, but does not show any symptoms and has not taken a test, they may continue to go to school.

So, if your kid was close to someone who tested positive, they can still go to school if they are asymptomatic because close contact does not mean they are infected.

Of course, if your child has had close contact, I personally recommend testing them just to be safe. If they do test positive they must stay home. See the Lancaster Central press release, CLICK HERE.  

Here's the School's official information:

The correct information is:

Test to Stay will allow individuals in school settings identified as close contacts, who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, to attend in-person classes (instruction/academic periods), even while under mandatory quarantine orders when they test negative throughout the TTS process. This opportunity is offered if:

 

• The exposed (close contact) individual remains asymptomatic.

• The parent/guardian has given consent for the student to undergo testing.

• The exposure occurred in the school setting.

• The individual is tested a minimum of two times during the five-day period following exposure (day 0) unless recognition of the exposure is delayed or weekends or school breaks intervene. One of the tests must occur on day five. If day five falls on a weekend or school holiday, the test should be performed the next school day.

Lancaster Central is one of 17 Erie County school districts and 11 private schools that have opted into the county’s “test-to-stay” program.

Other than Lancaster Central, here are the following schools and their districts that have opted into the test-to-stay program.

That may seem like a lot of participating schools, and the list is only expected to expand over time.