Dear MMUUSD School Community,
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities as Vermont students return to school, the State is encouraging families to have each school-age child in their household take two COVID-19 rapid tests. As part of the efforts to ensure access to test kits for school-aged students, the State will be providing free kits to families of school-aged children so they can know their child is returning to school healthy and ready to start the new year. The tests are not a requirement for students to return to school.
The Vermont Department of Health will have many distribution sites over the next two days (Thursday, Jan. 30 and Friday, Jan. 31) and in response to reported long lines for these free tests over the past week, parents/guardians with school-aged children can now schedule an appointment time to pick up their student's kits. Please go to healthvermont.gov/student-testing to make an appointment to pick up your free tests.
Once you have collected a test kit, please have your student(s) take these tests at least 24 hours apart, starting two days before school begins. So, if your child begins school on Monday, they should take the first test this Saturday and the second test on Sunday.
What to do if your child tests positive:
If your child's test is positive, please report your positive test result to the health department, your doctor, your school principal and nurse and [email protected]. Please note: our district will not be doing any contact tracing related to positive tests resulting from this testing initiative. Please follow instructions for what to do if you test positive on the Healthvermont.gov/covid-19/sympstoms-sickness/ webpage.
If both of your child's tests are negative and they are not showing any symptoms of illness, they can return to school.
For additional guidance about COVID-19, consult the Vermont Department of Health. Any child experiencing symptoms of Covid- 19 should stay home from school regardless of their test results.
Thank you for helping keep Vermont and our schools healthy.
Best regards,
John R. Alberghini, Superintendent
Tara McMahon, COVID Coordinator