The Christian County School Board approved an agreement with Pearl Medical and Diagnostic Laboratory to provide free COVID-19 testing for students who are close contacts of positive COVID cases.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel says numerous school districts in the state are taking advantage of this option, which would allow a student who would normally have to close contact quarantine the option of taking a COVID-19 test for a certain number of days instead.
He says the test and stay option would start September 27 and will be a benefit for working parents who often have a hardship when a student is quarantined for 14 days.
Bentzel clarified that this is not a mandatory procedure—it is a voluntary option for parents to choose if they so wish. The program would have no cost to families or the school district.
Something that will be changing in the coming days is the number of days students have to quarantine if they are a close contact will go from 14 to ten—Bentzel says that puts them in line with the requirements teachers have and will help keep them in school.
As for the use of facial coverings in schools, Bentzel says they will assess the case numbers and other indicators as the county moves forward in this pandemic, but for now they will keep the requirement for students, staff and visitors to wear masks while indoors and on buses.
In other action, the board approved entering into a contract with appraiser to assess the value of the district’s property off of Country Club Lane to determine its value.