Salem's Extensive Coronavirus Testing Helps Secure Hybrid Return

SALEM, MA — Salem Public Schools conducted nearly 2,000 coronavirus tests in advance of this week's return to hybrid learning with Superintendent Stephen Zrike saying on Wednesday that 31 of those tests came back positive.

Tests were made available to students, staff and family of students. Zrike said one faculty member tested positive, along with 19 students and 11 family members, out of the 1,850 tests.

Zrike added that some of the tests came from members of the same family.

"We think it's an important layer of safety," Zrike said during his weekly Facebook Live session. "It allowed us to more safely bring back students and staff this week."

The 1.7 percent positive rate among Salem staff, students and families was well below this week's seven-day rolling average across the state of 7.11 percent as of Wednesday.

Zrike said the district will continue to offer testing for faculty and high school students, and hopes to continue testing for all grades in some form as part of a new statewide student testing program.

"Testing staff is a layer but testing all students is an added layer of mitigation," Zrike said.

Salem Public Schools welcomed back third through fifth graders, as well as seventh and eighth graders, on Monday for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus health crisis in March. With those grades in hybrid learning, all students in kindergarten through the eighth grade who want to be in school now have some level of in-classroom learning.

High school students are scheduled to return on Feb. 4 with the logistics of that being the topic of the Salem School Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

"It was very exciting to see kids back in school," Zrike said. "Really appreciate the work our staff did to get ready. They didn't have a weeklong break like we did (when bringing back additional grades) in November to adjust.

"We feel like having students in person, or giving that option, is an option our families and students deserve to have."

He said that while each hybrid model "is very unique and different at each of our schools," that he's "confident in looking at every school's model that kids are getting a high-quality experience."

Zrike added that work will be done to continue to fine-tune both the hybrid and remote learning experiences for students.

"The bottom line is we're going to maximize the amount of live learning time," Zrike said. "We certainly don't want kids in front of devices all day when they are home. But we know that having access to a live instructor is important."

Zrike said Salem Schools spent $50,000 on cameras to improve streaming opportunities for classes and that the use of those cameras is at the discretion of the individual teachers.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)