HODGDON, Maine — SAD 70 School Board members discussed options for testing students for COVID-19 during their meeting held Monday, Jan. 10, at Hodgdon Middle/High School.
The school is encouraging parents to register their children for a free, voluntary COVID-19 pool testing program that tests students and staff on a weekly basis from a cart in the hallway.
District nurse Erin Mitchell provided an overview of the standard operating procedure updated by the Maine Department of Education and Maine Centers for Disease Control on Dec. 30.
According to the new guidance, all students, teachers or staff who test positive for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, will isolate themselves until they meet U.S. CDC requirements for release, currently an isolation period of five days. Close contacts must quarantine for five days from their last COVID-19 exposure, then wear a mask for five days.
“The SOP provides a framework for responding to COVID-19 cases among students, teachers and staff within our school,” Mitchell said. “The goal of the SOP is to enable students and staff to remain in the classroom through vaccinations, pool testing, isolation, quarantine and masking.”
Board members David Harris and Clarissa Porter expressed interest in using a test-to-stay program, which Maine CDC recognizes within the guidance as another approach to avoiding quarantine.
SAD 70 Superintendent Stephen Fitzpatrick said the test-to-stay option would require the school to develop its own protocol, test twice a week, and to pay for their own tests, which he did not see as making fiscal sense.
“We all know that the mitigating strategy of masking, of spacing, of ventilation, of cleansing, are layered to produce a safety effect,” he said. “If we do away with one of those, then I think we have some assumption of liability, so I hesitate to deviate too far from CDC guidelines. I’m not a medical expert, but our job as school board members and educators is to keep our clients safe, and this is what [Maine CDC] is telling us will best afford that to us.”
“I don’t want to end pool testing, I want to give people more options,” Harris said. “I’m for letting people have all kinds of options. If we get another way, and if somebody doesn’t want to pool test, that’s great, but we can keep their kid. I don’t want to see a kid miss 30 days of school because he’s quarantined from being a close contact, because you know that’s going to happen. We’ve got kids who have missed 20-30 days already this year, so why can’t we give them a different option.”
During the public comment phase of the meeting, one student and two parents stood to protest the school’s current quarantine policy. Cole Hyman said his son missed his kindergarten Christmas party not because he had COVID-19, but because he was playing tag at recess and became a close contact of another student with COVID symptoms. He encouraged the board members to stand up to pressure from the state and federal government to adhere to specific policies.
Harris said he agreed with many of the concerns, and that allowing parents to purchase their own tests might provide an alternative to quarantines. Board member David Wells also asked what the consequences might be of allowing the board to make their own decisions.
“Basically, if you want to stay in school and you want the school to pay for the testing, sign up for pool testing,” Vice Chairman Curtis Harrison said. “If you don’t want to test at all, stay at home for five to 10 days. This could be a middle ground where if you don’t want to do pool testing, but you want your kids to be back in school, go get two tests at your own expense and go back to school. If it’s within the guidelines of the SOP, which it appears to be.”
Fitzpatrick said he was not sure what consequences might arise from deviating from CDC guidance, but promised to explore the option of having Houlton Regional Hospital or a commercial agency sanction COVID-19 tests. The board took no action.
Also at this meeting, the board unanimously approved Marjorie Carton for elementary special education teacher, Brianna Caron as a health aid candidate and Suzanne Hilks as a long-term substitute.
The next SAD 70 board meeting was originally scheduled for Valentine’s Day, but board members unanimously voted to change the meeting date to Feb 15.
