Drool For School: Saliva Testing Mandatory For D113 Students

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Ahead of next week's launch of hybrid learning, district officials announced twice-a-week coronavirus testing would be mandatory for all students participating in activities on campus. Testing will be voluntary for on-campus staff.

Township High School District 113 officials have arranged with Passport Health, a travel immunization company, and SHIELD Illinois, the COVID-19 screening program developed by the University of Illinois, to roll out the saliva testing program.

Starting March 2, students will be tested every Tuesday and Friday to provide an additional layer of protection against asymptomatic coronavirus transmission in an effort to detect cases before higher viral load.

Testing saliva samples is cheaper, faster and less invasive than nasal swabs. Individual tests cost $20, compared to $100 or more for standard tests, which also require medically trained personnel to administer, according to university officials.

The tests are molecular polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests. They are more accurate than antigen rapid tests, do not require any follow-up samples and provide results within 24 hours.

Testing sites in the Deerfield High School library and the Highland Park High School cafeteria are set to be complete Thursday. District employees are scheduled to begin on-campus testing Monday, the same day consent forms are due from families who opted in to part-time in-person learning last month.

Students in remote learning must also take part in the testing protocol if they wish to take part in any in-person academic or extracurricular activities.

"I know this is a lot of information to process in a very short amount of time, and I know some families will miss the deadline or may want more time to consider whether they really want their student in Hybrid Learning," Law told parents.

Parents or guardians may seek medical exemptions from a healthcare provider if their student is unable to drool into the funnel of sample containers. Exemption requests must be submitted for review by March 1, and student's whose requests have been denied will be excluded from campus starting March 9, according to a testing timeline provided by the district.

"I appreciate your understanding that everyone will be subject to the same standard and deadlines," Law added. "We believe that this testing protocol will contribute to the mitigations we already have in place against the spread of the COVID-19 virus."

Currently, about 60 percent of students at Deerfield High School and about 40 percent of Highland Park High School students are set to return to campus for hybrid learning. Families will have an addition opportunity to opt in to the option starting March 17.

Board members approved spending up to about $1.53 million on testing program at their Feb. 8 meeting. Administrators plan to regularly report attendance and testing data to the board once the testing program begins, according to a district spokesperson.

RELATED: Hybrid Learning To Launch Later This Month In District 113

District 113 and Deerfield School District 109, which approved the plan last month, become the first public elementary school districts in Illinois to begin using the SHIELD Illinois saliva testing program.

So far, two companies and about 15 colleges and universities have contacted with the University of Illinois for the program. A Catholic school in Chicago has also received grant funding to take part. University officials are in talks with other organizations about further expansion, according to a spokesperson, who explained the testing program is expanding its lab capacity in the Chicago area with sites in Maywood, Itasca and Wood Dale.

District 113 administrators and company officials took part in a webinar to discuss the testing program and address questions. A recording of the event was scheduled to be posted on the district's website.