USD 251 North Lyon County is looking to bring another tool into its toolbox of combating COVID-19.
During a special board meeting Monday evening the USD 251 Board of Education approved the submission of an ELC grant to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to provide in school COVID-19 testing for students and staff. The $452,000 reimbursable grant would allow the district to provide in-school testing for the next three years if approved.
Superintendent Bob Blair says the grant if approved, would cover the cost of testing supplies, equipment, incentives and the hiring of a second nurse giving the district one nurse on both school campuses for testing and contact tracing purposes.
Blair says the ability to test students and staff regularly will help to keep everyone in school as long as possible.
Blair also says the district would have the opportunity to opt out of the grant at any time if they feel testing was no longer needed.
The grant will be submitted to KDHE Tuesday. Blair anticipates they could receive word on the grant’s status before the week is out.
Additionally, the district also had to apply for a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) Certificate of Waiver which is a certification that allows for facilities to legally conduct waived tests on individuals to assess health, diagnose conditions and determine the best treatment plan.
Blair is hopeful they could receive word on the CLIA waiver soon with testing beginning in schools within the next ten days to two weeks if all goes according to plan.
If the grant and waiver are approved, parent signatures will be required for all students under the age of 18 to be tested.
In other matters, the board also held a general review of the district’s five-year capital outlay plan. No decisions were made regarding the plan as Blair says it was an opportunity for himself and the board to simply discuss any new items or matters they feel could be addressed in the coming years.
