Salem Schools To Stress Testing Ahead Of Classroom Return

SALEM, MA — As Salem students head out on what Superintendent of Schools Stephen Zrike said is a well-deserved and much needed winter break for all students and staff, there is a reminder that coronavirus testing will be a priority as the district looks to expand its in-classroom teaching in January.

Salem Public Schools will be remote the week of Jan. 4 with hybrid learning offered for the first time this school year starting Jan. 11 in grades 3 through 5, and grades 7 and 8. Plans are to give high school students in grades 10 through 12, who have been learning remotely since March, the opportunity to return to some in-classroom learning on Feb. 4.

Students in grades kindergarten through grade 2, some 6th graders, 9th graders and some career and technical students have been in hybrid programs since November.

Zrike is asking that all staff and returning students be tested for the coronavirus prior to returning to school on Jan. 11.

"We are going to be blitzing people with information on testing," he said during his final Facebook session with families of 2020. "I cannot stress enough how important it is for families to avail themselves of this opportunity."

Free saliva testing will take place at most Salem school locations on Jan. 4, 5 and 6. The non-invasive test has students spit in a small container that is then marked for analysis.

"It is very user-friendly, very child-friendly," Zrike said. "If you are not positive you will not hear from us. If your child is positive, you will hear from us."

While families will have a bit longer to get a flu vaccine under the state's new mandate for the 2020-21 school year after the Department of Public Health extended the deadline from Dec. 31 to Feb. 28, Zrike encouraged families that have not done so already to get the flu shot during winter break.

"Please, please make this a priority," he said. "It helps keep everyone safe. It helps let us know that anyone with symptoms, it's likely not the flu, and it likely would be COVID."

Students who are not vaccinated for influenza by Feb. 28 will be excluded from all school buildings as of March 1. The state is requiring flu shots for the first time this school year for all students in in-person, hybrid and remote learning models, as well as on-campus college students under 30.

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Zrike said the district will also be making an announcement on the delay of indoor winter school sports prior to the Jan. 4 return to remote learning.

"It's just a postponement right now," he said. "It's not a cancellation of winter sports. I just want to be clear about that."

He concluded by thanking all students for their efforts since schools went remote at the onset of the pandemic in March, and expressed optimism about what the next year will bring regardless whether students are learning hybrid, fully remote or, eventually, full time in the classroom.

"We are going to work really hard to keep our communities connected," he said. "Because we will be back together in 2021. That is our goal."

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