Framingham Students Return With Pooled, Rapid Test Options

FRAMINGHAM, MA — When Framingham students return to classes for the 2021-22 school year on Wednesday — the first traditional first day of school since 2019 — one of the district's key defenses against coronavirus will be testing.

This school year, students and staff will have access to several types of testing, depending on the situation, including rapid BinaxNOW tests.

Framingham will participate in a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) COVID-19 screening program where students and staff will have access to free weekly tests taken in batches, or pools. If any sample in a pool tests positive for coronavirus, students will have access to either the gold-standard PCR test or a rapid test. This option requires students to opt-in.

The district will also participate in a program called "test and stay," where symptom-free students and staff who may have been exposed to the virus can remain in school buildings. While in school, they will get daily rapid tests, which produce results in about 15 minutes.

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The district will also provide testing for students who present coronavirus symptoms — although FPS officials warn parents not to send students to school who are symptomatic.

Framingham School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg is also proposing that the testing options be formalized as an official school system policy.

Framingham began a pooled testing program in February when students returned to classrooms for the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020.

All Framingham students in grades 1 to 12 will return to classes on Wednesday with kindergarten students returning Thursday. The district has a wider plan for preventing coronavirus spread, including requiring masks and running several vaccine clinics. Three are planned this fall on Sept. 11, Sept. 17 at the high school and Walsh Middle School and Sept. 24 at Cameron and Fuller middle schools.