NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Niagara Falls City School District is taking proactivity to the next level, as it relates to COVID-19.
As of November 23, the school district will be the first in the area licensed to administer two types of rapid COVID-19 tests on-site, at the district office and/or in schools.
Superintendent Mark Laurrie says the decision to pursue the application was based on a communal lack of patience and a sincere desire to get kids back in school, as soon as possible.
"While we started the year saying that it's not the school's responsibility to be the health providers, we certainly are really concerned about the loss of educational time. Anything that we can do to keep teachers and students in school, we felt was worthy of doing," Laurrie says.
The lengthy process wasn't easy. Laurrie says the conversation was open and constant between the Niagara County Health Department and the New York State Department of Health.
But it all came together at the right time.
Laurrie isn't the only one in support of this decision. Niagara County Public Health Director Dan Stapleton issued a statement to 2 On Your Side, saying:
"I fully support the service in schools. It could be a game-changer in controlling the spread of COVID and avoiding some quarantines."
The district is looking to buy anywhere between one and five machines, as well as several kits. Laurrie says, each machine runs around $3,000 a piece and kits are $25 each.
"If we can get students back in school with some sense of normalcy, we'll be actually saving money. In doing this, we're also saving money as far as the health care system as well," Laurrie says.
Testing will be voluntary. Staff, students and families within the Niagara Falls City School District are welcome to get tested at their leisure. Qualified and trained nurse practitioners will be on-site to administer the 15-minute test in a secure room, and results will be shared immediately.
"We'll be very controlled, very programmed, and very transparent about it," Laurrie says.
No decision has been made yet as to where the machine(s) will go.
The goal, Laurrie says, is to help stop the spread, sooner ... much sooner. And in talking to other districts, the idea, he says, seems to be resonating.