Superintendent COVID Testing Intro Letter

Dear KLSD Community,  

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, Westchester County and its schools are committed to a safe return to in-person learning for students, teachers, and staff.

This can only be achieved if the County, public and private school systems, parents, and students work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools and keep one another safe. This is especially important given the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant.

As part of this effort, KLSD is pleased to announce that we, along with schools across Westchester County, will be partnering with Westchester County Department of Health’s testing partner Quadrant Biosciences to offer the County’s FREE COVID-19 screening testing program.

The program consists of the following:

• Voluntary weekly testing of up to 20% of students. Required testing on unvaccinated staff (sampling methods to be determined by district in accordance with NYSDOH guidance).

This method will allow early detection of COVID-19 in pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. Early detection means we can better stop the virus from spreading in schools. Preventing school outbreaks is key to ensuring our schools stay open to provide the education and support our children need.

All students are highly encouraged to enroll in this free, school-based COVID-19 screening testing program. All unvaccinated staff will be required to participate in the program.  The program will use non-invasive, self-collected saliva samples that are appropriate and painless for all ages. Samples will be processed using accurate and reliable PCR analysis—the gold standard of COIVD-19 testing— to identify positive cases.

Please follow this link to enroll and consent for each student in your household (To reach the correct link, you will either need to be on your child's school issued device, or know your child's school credentials to log in on a personal device through their KLSD account).  If you have more than one child, please fill out a form (using the correct device or credentials) for each child. Once you consent, you will be directed to register for the testing program at Quadrant BioSciences.  In order to participate as soon as the program begins, we encourage you to consent as soon as possible. You can consent at any future point for enrollment in the weekly 20% screening testing program.

Andrew Selesnick, Superintendent of Schools

CC: Dr. Sherlita Amler, MD, Commissioner of Health, Westchester County Department of Health

The Westchester County Schools COVID-19 Screening Testing Program is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $15,800,820 with 100 percent funded by the CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/.