Headshot of Jerry Almendarez
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By Jerry Almendarez, Superintendent, Santa Ana USD

Santa Ana USD keeping students in school through weekly COVID-19 testing

O

ur Santa Ana Unified School District community has been among those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our parents serve as essential workers in our region, and families live in one of the most densely populated areas.

As part of our effort to provide a healthy environment on our campuses and keep our schools open going forward, our board of education has endorsed several initiatives to support our families and staff. These have included teaming up with community healthcare partners to host vaccination and testing clinics on our campuses for students, staff and the community.

The next phase in these efforts began in October when we started providing weekly COVID-19 testing for all students and staff members at every school site. This marked an important step in our goal of keeping our schools among the safest places for children in our community. Unanimous approval for this initiative by our board of education also sent a strong message that our district was dedicated to maintaining a healthy and safe environment for learning.

We are committed to testing our 44,000 students and 5,000 employees once per week, every week, going forward. All testing services are being provided at no cost to the district by trained professionals from Diagnostic Laboratory Science (DLS), an industry leader in COVID-19 testing, with clients that include Angels baseball, Knott’s Berry Farm, the City of Anaheim and Honda Center. DLS is able to recover associated costs from state and federal funding sources. This provider is also able to bring testing directly to every campus so it is incorporated into the regular school day.

Testing teams at schools conduct testing Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, targeting different groups of students and staff each day. The goal is for testing not to take more than 10 minutes from a child’s normal schedule. So far, we have been able to meet this goal.

a woman places a swab in a swab container
We are committed to testing our 44,000 students and 5,000 employees once per week, every week, going forward. All testing services are being provided at no cost to the district by trained professionals.

The importance of communication

Part of the testing rollout included a communications campaign to provide parents with key information addressing why testing is important and what their children can expect when they are tested. We released several demonstration videos in multiple languages on our various communications platforms, including ParentSquare, social media, the district website and electronic newsletters. We offered FAQs for our nurses, principals and other trusted staff at our schools to help answer questions when they met with parents. Once testing started, our school leaders also shared photos and videos of the testing process at their campuses. All this work was key in alleviating some doubts our community had regarding testing.

Keeping track

The district and DLS created a confidential online portal for all testing results and notifications after parents and staff completed the initial consent forms that were distributed online or through hard copies at school and district sites. Results are available in 24 hours or less. Individuals testing COVID-19 positive are contacted and provided with appropriate resources, along with instructions for quarantine protocols. Additionally, parents, students and staff have ongoing access to physicians and other health care providers who speak several languages to help answer questions regarding their results.

So far, the district’s COVID-19 positivity rate has remained relatively low. Testing each student and staff member weekly will help us to keep these numbers low, as will the other important safety protocols we continue to follow.

Testing will allow the district to make some changes to quarantine guidelines. Before testing, students identified as “close contacts,” or those who had been exposed to a COVID-19 positive student or family member, were required to quarantine for 14 days. Now, that time frame can be reduced because the exposed student can be tested at his or her school regularly.

As of the writing of this column in early October 2021, the district’s COVID-19 positivity rate has remained relatively low. Over the most recent 14-day window, we have recorded just 36 positive cases out of all students and staff at every school and district site. Testing each student and staff member weekly will help us to keep these numbers low, as will the other important safety protocols we continue to follow.

Testing frequency and requirements will be re-evaluated further as more guidance from the state and local health care agencies is released. The announcement by Gov. Newsom of the vaccine mandate for all eligible students and staff, and how that is rolled out, will also determine how the district proceeds with testing over the long term. But for now, Santa Ana USD remains committed to providing this valuable resource for our students and staff.

Jerry Almendarez is the superintendent of the Santa Ana USD.