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Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) will participate in the Virginia “Test to Stay” pilot program aimed at minimizing the impact of quarantine on students and keeping more students in the classroom when identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This state program will be open to students at schools selected for the pilot initiative who are unvaccinated or who are not yet fully vaccinated; staff, parents and fully vaccinated students are not eligible to participate at this time.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) describes “Test to Stay” as “a practice that consists of contact tracing and serial COVID-19 testing to allow school-associated close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to continue to attend school during their quarantine period.” It requires close contacts to take a COVID-19 test every day for five days after the exposure. If the test is negative, they are allowed to stay in school; they must also wear a mask and remain without symptoms for 10 days after the exposure. Test kits are provided free of charge.
All testing will be voluntary and open only to students who have a signed consent form on file. Participating students may benefit from COVID-19 testing and early identification of COVID-19, and will benefit from being able to continue to attend in-person school and certain school-based extracurricular activities.
As part of the state’s pilot program, three ACPS schools will use “test to stay” beginning Feb. 22, 2022: John K. Polk Elementary School, Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy and the Satellite Campus of Alexandria City High School. Families at these schools will receive more detailed information on how to provide consent for their students to participate and how the process will work at these sites. The VDH is collecting data from the pilot program to assess its effectiveness as one of many tools in place to help keep school communities safe and our schools open for in-person learning.