Schools say state's microcluster testing mandate could push them back into remote learning

School districts’ latest headache is how they can meet the state’s onerous testing requirements for COVID-19 if their communities are targeted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as “microclusters.”

While some districts have started planning, they have no way to find out if their communities might be tagged as a yellow, orange or red zone. Cuomo’s office makes the determination and he is not giving hints.

Even as districts attempt to prepare, many are warning their communities that, without outside help, the state requirement to test 20% of their students and staff could mean that schools will have to close and revert to all-remote instruction.

“At this point, this is logistically impossible as the (county) Department of Health and local hospitals have indicated that they do not have the capacity to help us,” Pocantico Hills Superintendent Richard Calkins wrote in a Nov. 14 letter to his community.

Calkins said that while his district, the smallest in Westchester, is working to determine a solution, “this is a long-winded way of saying that we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility of going remote in the near future.” 

According to the state Department of Health, schools that wind up in state-designated yellow zones because of rising COVID-19 numbers must test 20% of students and staff over the two weeks immediately following the designation. 

If the positivity rate for those tested is less than the 7-day positivity rate in the yellow zone, it’s considered “sufficient demonstration” that the school is not driving the local spread. So the district would be free from further testing requirements. 

But if a school’s positivity rate is higher than in the zone as a whole, the school must partner with a community-based health agency to do bi-weekly random testing of 20% of students and staff. It is a mandate many districts say they simply cannot fulfill.

“The cost and logistics of weekly random testing are likely to be prohibitive for many districts,” said Karen Belanger, executive director of The Westchester Putnam School Boards Association. “Without financial and operational assistance from the state or the county, schools in yellow and orange zones may have no option other than full remote learning.”

The state is still providing rapid testing kits to local health departments. The state Health Department is advising schools in colored zones to contact local health care partners to arrange for access to those tests. 

School districts are largely at the mercy of whatever help their county health department and community agencies can provide. 

Westchester County has limited ability to assist schools with testing, the county Health Commissioner told The Journal News/lohud on Nov. 10. “It’s really (the school’s) decision how they manage, but the Health Department does not have the capacity to test every school in the county," she said.

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East Ramapo was the region’s first district to experience the microcluster madness when parts of Rockland County were designated as first red, then orange and eventually yellow zones. Five of the district’s buildings are currently in yellow zones, and the rest are clear. East Ramapo opened all 14 of its buildings on Monday. 

According to the district’s website, free testing was available at Ramapo High School on Nov. 12 for those randomly selected to be tested. If those selected couldn’t attend, the district provided a list of seven locations that offered free tests, or they could use their health care providers.

Those tested were asked to submit documentation of their test results through the district’s COVID-19 screening questionnaire. 

The testing at Ramapo High School was arranged through the Town of Ramapo, district officials said, and 422 students and faculty came to be tested.

Port Chester became the only Westchester school district to fall into a yellow zone designation, before the village’s status was downgraded to orange. The school district closed its doors after the yellow-zone designation on Nov. 9, less than a month after schools opened. 

Superintendent Edward Kliszus said in a Nov. 10 email to The Journal News/lohud that the district was “researching the means to fund, obtain and administer tests.” A week later, there has been no public update on when they will be able to do so. School buildings remain closed.

East Ramapo and Port Chester, districts with large populations of economically disadvantaged students, took longer than their more affluent neighbors to reopen schools this fall. 

But even more well-resourced districts are worried about what a yellow zone designation would mean for their in-person programming. 

Rye Superintendent Eric Byrne warned in a Nov. 16 update to the community that if Rye schools were to fall into a yellow zone, they would need to administer 700 tests in two weeks. That requirement, he said, is “prohibitive” and could force students back to remote learning.

“There is no school district in Westchester or our neighboring counties currently able to meet this mandate,” Byrne wrote. 

Harrison Superintendent Lou Wool wrote a similar note to his community, saying Harrison would have to test 840 individuals. 

“Schools are not licensed to administer COVID tests, and the cost of implementation is prohibitive,” Wool wrote. “We should not tolerate any students being denied the ability to attend school and must work together to avoid this outcome.”

Both Wool and Byrne asked their communities to reach out to their state legislators to request state funding and help to meet the testing mandate. Both indicated that their schools could find themselves inside state-designated clusters as early as this week.

Putnam County could also be headed into the yellow zone, with multiple days of a test positivity rate over 6%. 

Putnam Valley Superintendent Jeremy Luft wrote to the community Tuesday that the district was working toward the testing mandate, including drafting a consent form for families to sign ahead of time. Luft indicated that, in a best case scenario, he hoped to receive test kits from the state and the length of any closure would depend on how quickly that could happen.

“We anticipate that these non-invasive tests will be self-administered by adults and administered by our school nurses for students. All testing would be conducted inside of the school,” Luft wrote. 

“Testing is something we are working toward, it is not something we are capable of doing at this time.”

Sophie Grosserode covers education. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter @sdgrosserode.